I seen more stupidity

Dave0176

Got a call to do a cleaning on a steam boiler and was treated to this debacle lmao.

KC_Jones

I think you might win the prize for the worst piping ever posted on here. Did you even touch it?

Fred

OMG!

Dave0176

@KC_Jones that isn't even the best the burner tube with the pilot attached wasn't even seated on the orfice. When someone else came to change the pilot tube they never reinserted the burner right and there is a nice burn mark on the louvred grill.

Yes I cleaned it, the pigtail was completely blocked lwco probe was filthy. Told him about the piping, he's going to have me repipe it.

You can't fix stupid.......,

EzzyT

Wow that's a winner!

kanecats

Pathetic attempt at plumbing!

delta T

I don't get it, are you saying the drawings in the install manual actually mean something? I thought they were just for decoration....

What a mess, at least they are letting you fix it!

Ironman

How much clanging and banging does it make?

DanHolohan

Gosh

Paul S_3

Lmao.... and its always a Utica..... i think its the same contractor hacking these boilers in North Jersey.... that's where i see them installed the most... @Dave0176 cant wait to see your re pipe pics.... i think this is the worst ive seen

Steamhead

Same idiot comes to Baltimore occasionally- I just saw one like that today. The lady needs to get her chimney relined, her main vents uncovered and upgraded, and a repipe. I'll post pics when we do it.

icy78

What are the bad parts?

Fred

icy78 said:

What are the bad parts?

Every bit of the piping, from multiple aspects, including the materials used.

Leon82

And that growth on the copper. I've never seen that before lol

neilc

growths come on bad parts

adambnyc

Not to high jack the thread, but I'm curious about boilers that have the risers from the sides and not from the top. When these boilers are piped correctly, do they produce dryer steam? It would seem to me that when the risers are on top of the boiler, during heating, the water will jump and sometimes overcome a 24" riser. If the risers are on the side, the boiling water would just hit the top of the boiler. Was this the thought in making boilers like this?

adambnyc

Thanks! Great explanation.

icy78

Fred said:

icy78 said:

What are the bad parts?

Every bit of the piping, from multiple aspects, including the materials used.

I am a refrigeration guy who's here to learn. I thought the wiring stinks and the piping looks shabby but I really have no way to judge steam piping.

Fred

icy78 said:

Fred said:

icy78 said:

What are the bad parts?

Every bit of the piping, from multiple aspects, including the materials used.

I am a refrigeration guy who's here to learn. I thought the wiring stinks and the piping looks shabby but I really have no way to judge steam piping.

Generally speaking, a boiler should be piped based, at least to the manufacturer's minimum specifications. Here a a tutorial that lays out some basic guidelines:

Dave0176

adambnyc said:

Not to high jack the thread, but I'm curious about boilers that have the risers from the sides and not from the top. When these boilers are piped correctly, do they produce dryer steam? It would seem to me that when the risers are on top of the boiler, during heating, the water will jump and sometimes overcome a 24" riser. If the risers are on the side, the boiling water would just hit the top of the boiler. Was this the thought in making boilers like this?

@adambnyc also remember 24" being minium. Most of us guys on here are piping boilers with 35-40" of rise and using very large pipe in an effort to keep the steam velocity below 15 FPS. No boiler that I pipe will theoretically be above 15 FPS. And I keep repeating 15FPS because this is what Ara Marcus Daniels in 1930 said should be the limit for steam exit velocity. The slower the steam leaves the boiler the happier it'll be. The manufacturers today are perfectly happy with 25-30 FPS, judging from their minimal piping specs.

As far as the side outlet boilers, I hate them. Every single one Ive come across seems to be piped improperly. Its a little tiny boiler thats heavily fired with very narrow small sections, this particular one was 150,000 btu, FOR 6 RADIATORS!!! With 165 EDR. Talk about oversized.

I talked to the owner today were going to replace the boiler with a Weil McLain EG-30

EzzyT

The homeowner will be a lot happier once your all set and done with a new properly sized boiler.

adambnyc

Hey Dave, I see a lot of pros piping with 3" risers right out of the boiler. Are these boilers tapped with 3" or are the guys using a bushing and reducing to the 2" out of the boiler? Like that one you did for the nice old lady, looked like 3" from top of boiler. Does the 3" riser aid in slowing down the steam? I'm still considering repiping again.

Dave0176

@adambnyc unfortunately only Weil McLain and peerless tap their boilers with three inch tappings. This particular Utica series only has two inch tappings. The Dunkirk and all their spinoffs are very similar but actually use 2-1/2 inch tappings, and they list in their manual the minimal spec for piping is to keep the 2-1/2 tap all the way to the header drip, most never do.

Burnham and Crown also only has a two tap. These boilers you can just use a larger header to help separate water and steam and lower steam velocity.

I don't always use the full three inch tap, sometimes I'll bush it down, it depends on the piping and what my exit velocity calculations will be.

adambnyc

Was staring at the pic again. Is that a white extension cord with the ends stripped off connected to the transformer? Does the switch on the boiler even work or do they just "unplug" it? Or is that thermostat wire?

delta T

@adambnyc
is it telephone wire? I have seen that a few times, its like 22 or 26 ga.