Lost In Translation

New England SteamWorks

My best theory is the lemon yellow piping was the original (or at least previous) header and equalizer. Any better theories?

Paul48

Did they pay someone to do that? Who's gonna take the bull by the horns, and stop that kinda BS? Mortgage companies? Insurance companies? Obviously, neither the government, nor the industry is doing anything to stop it.

Fred

I'm afraid only the HO/building owner is in a position to stop this kind of installation. The question is how do they get educated enough to know better? Many of these installations, if not most, are done without permits (no permit required here in Ohio on single family homes, at least in most counties that I can find) so even educating the smaller inspection population will likely have minimal impact.

New England SteamWorks

I am trying to puzzle out how it originally was. Even the lemon yellow piping doesn't all seem from the same install. I am thinking the 4" portion was from the original (1930), the 2" was from an intermediate install, and the copper from the latest.

Then we have the mains, risers, and radiators dripping to gravity wet returns (all good) , except for an errant dry return that returns above the boiler (shown with the green vent). No obvious additions to the house or other modifications.

New England SteamWorks

Also, two cross over traps.

New England SteamWorks

New owner, no history available. Two pipe.

Fred

Any chance their was only one riser out of the old boiler (which there still is) and the the old yellow pipe that drops down from the header, and carries over, originally was, in a past life, the equalizer that went down to the return into the previous boiler and whoever installed this boiler thought it was a good idea to use that pipe as a steam supply, albeit still out of a single boiler riser, and that pipe that drops down and now has a drain valve on it was tied into the return?

gennady

the pipe on the right seem to be an old part of equalizer, before they connected copper steam supply to reducer,

Paul48

Hat.......I read his initial post, not the whole thing. But, I think his thought pattern was way different than mine. I just want people to not get ripped off. Every time I see one of those, I automatically think of an elderly couple on a fixed income. I think of a young couple, with a terribly sick child. I think there is many people that need protection, at some point in their lives. Using a licensed tradesman to install your boiler should ensure a proper installation. It might not have all the bells and whistles, and it might be minimum factory spec, but it should function fine.

Steamhead

This is a Hoffman Vapor system with the later-style Differential Loop. There is only one vent on this type of system, on the dry return near the Loop. The vent that's there now is green- a Hoffman #75 or 76.

At the ends of the steam mains you will find crossover traps, which vent air from the steam mains into the dry return. From there it goes out the vent near the Loop. The crossovers are probably Hoffman #18 traps. You can get the mains to vent faster by changing these to Barnes & Jones #122 or MEPCO #1E traps.

Whoever installed that boiler is totally clueless. Repipe it.

New England SteamWorks

Thank you as always Steamhead. Went to bed with a mystery and awoke to find the mystery solved! All makes sense now.

ChrisJ

Steamhead said:

This is a Hoffman Vapor system with the later-style Differential Loop. There is only one vent on this type of system, on the dry return near the Loop. The vent that's there now is green- a Hoffman #75 or 76.

At the ends of the steam mains you will find crossover traps, which vent air from the steam mains into the dry return. From there it goes out the vent near the Loop. The crossovers are probably Hoffman #18 traps. You can get the mains to vent faster by changing these to Barnes & Jones #122 or MEPCO #1E traps.

Whoever installed that boiler is totally clueless. Repipe it.

But, that never happens?!?!?


The amount of botched hot air installs I get to see now on Facebook is truly impressive. It's not just steam, not even close. if something needs to be installed and assembled any amount beyond plugging a power cord in, it gets messed up guaranteed.


@RI_SteamWorks My only hope is we are going to see full sized tees used on the header.

New England SteamWorks

ChrisJ said:

@RI_SteamWorks My only hope is we are going to see full sized tees used on the header.

Promise.