Your opinion on the boiler piping.

RomanGK_26986764589

Hello everybody
I am planning to re pipe my steam boiler sometime this summer and would like to have an opinion of many great minds on this site. What's your opinion on the piping of this Burnham boiler? The video is attached:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9TS2n67jkc

Paul S_3

If you would like to re-pipe it....i recommend a drop header using both tappings on the boiler . The tappings on that boiler are 2 inch. I personally use nothing smaller than 3 inch on all steam boilers i install. I do not see the skim port piped on the side of the boiler. That should be installed. How does your system heat though? Evenly? Maybe try to increase your steam main vents....add a few Gorton #2's. did they do an EDR calc? probably not boiler may be oversized and short cycle

RomanGK_26986764589

Currently I am getting quotes from contractors and that was the video of their install. I should have budget for that by mid summer. My house heats up evenly and 80 foot main heats up in about 4 min. I don't have any water hammer. It just bugs me that currently my Weil MC Lain EG 40 has an undersized 2" header. I'd love to use full tapping and a tall 3 inch riser. Do you think utilizing both tappings and a drop header an overkill for EG 40 Weil McLain? I'm a home owner and not a pro so I don't know much.

Paul S_3

No its not overkill.....like i said i use 3 in at the minimum with both tappings...its not that much harder for a contractor to do that...the contractor in the video didnt install a skim tapping thats standard on a steam install.....where are you located? Where in new england....have you use the find a contractor feature on this website?

GW

"You have no business touching that", he's very direct!

RomanGK_26986764589

I wonder why does the Weil McLain manual say to remove the skim port after skimming and plug the tapping if it is so important?? I am in NJ. I did use the find a contractor feature. There are few pros available in NJ and NY area and I'll give them a call when I have a budget that is.

KC_Jones

If you are in NJ then there are only 2 contractors to call. @EzzyT @Dave0176
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/dl-mechanical-llc
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/corrado-p-mastropaolo-inc

ChrisJ

RomanGK_26986764589 said:

I wonder why does the Weil McLain manual say to remove the skim port after skimming and plug the tapping if it is so important?? I am in NJ. I did use the find a contractor feature. There are few pros available in NJ and NY area and I'll give them a call when I have a budget that is.

There's nothing to wonder.
It's cheaper to do this than install a valve, or even a short nipple and a coupler etc.

I had a valve, but it failed so I installed a nice brass coupler with a brass plug that I can remove and skim whenever I need to.

EzzyT

@RomanGK_26986764589
Send me a private and we'll talk about the situation you have going on

Dave0176

I'm always late to the party, ohh well

Jason_13

Why do you want to re-pipe it?

RomanGK_26986764589

RomanGK_26986764589

Jason, I have an abomination instead of a proper piping. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Paul S_3

@RomanGK_26986764589 ....how long ago was this installed?

BobC

All kinds of room to do it right. The installer must have had a boatload of fittings he wanted to use up.

Bob

ChrisJ

BobC said:

All kinds of room to do it right. The installer must have had a boatload of fittings he wanted to use up.

Bob

The installer doesn't look like had knew what he was doing to me.

It's completely wrong.

unclejohn

You toucha the valve I breaka you face.

GreenGene

My god, outside of the piping being abstract I hate dry base boilers, it's 2016, not 1916.

ChrisJ

GreenGene said:

My god, outside of the piping being abstract I hate dry base boilers, it's 2016, not 1916.

Not sure what you mean?
1916 had plenty of triple pass steamers I believe as well as other quality designs.

Aren't pin boilers a recent invention, 1950s or 60s?

RomanGK_26986764589

Paul S, It was installed in May of 2007. I bought the house in 2015. I had a plumber redo the wet returns this past fall since it featured a double Hartford loop too.

Paul S_3

@RomanGK_26986764589 you mean dry returns?...I do not see any wet returns unless I'm missing something. Did they abandon wet returns and ran new dry returns? piping for dry returns looks kinda old.

Steamhead

Completely wrong, as ChrisJ said. The piping diagram is right there in the manual, but that assumes the installers know how to read.

RomanGK_26986764589

Paul S, they removed the second Hartford loop and added a valve so I could flush the mud leg.

Paul S_3

I believe the mud leg is in the boiler there are no valves there ....they should be installed as well as a king valve to help bring the boiler pressure up easier and faster

RomanGK_26986764589

I should've probably updated that awhile ago. EzzyT came and re piped my boiler and it looks awesome now! He also returned and did a combustion test after I had my chimney sweep done. Here are the numbers:
Testo 320
273.7 F temp stack
11.1% Oxygen
4ppm CO
9ppm CO Air free
83.9 Eff. Gross
100.3% Excess air
5.50% CO2

What do you guys think of the numbers? I just wanted to compare what others have. Are my numbers acceptable?