Bad steam install

GW

Yet the HO says the system works well, go figure

Fred

Maybe he doesn't know how it should work???

ChrisJ

Guarantee the guy that installed it will say the same thing. "Yeah well I've never had complaints, so".

GW

well I was there cause the HO //spouse bumped into a purge drain on one of those HW pex loop(s), and drained the water onto the floor. The circ(s) proceeded to make a horrific noise. I feel badly, but in life sometimes we don't know what we don't know.

Jamie Hall

One of the amazing things about steam is how forgiving of odd arrangements (!) it can be... sometimes...

KC_Jones

Looks like counterflow, those drips are acting like equalizers in a sense. That's probably how they are getting away with it. Along with that height.

adambnyc

Are those pex loops coming off a coil or is that a hot water loop right off the steam boiler? I didn't think Peerless made a gas steamer with a coil.

If that's the case, you have 215+ water going thru pex lines. Is there an aquastat? Also, can't see it, but it looks like multiple pumps for different zones.

GW

Yes there is a stat . No coil, boiler water in thoae zones

Paul S_3

All of Those pumps will go bad eventually..... should be 3 piece circulator... preferably a bronze....are the pumps pumping into the boiler? If they are...inlets are really close to water line....pumps will go bad very soon..... and thats the worst way ive seen Viega Fostapex used

Dave0176

Wow!!! Lol

GW

Paul, I've done some jobs with reg pumps, does the 3 piece make a big difference?

I've been using a hx more than in the old days.

Thanks

Paul S_3

@GW .... i have done a few jobs with wet rotor circulators.... most of them dont have a problem....on those jobs i piped a bypass behind the pump....i have replaced about 2 over time.....for about the last 6 or 7 years i have been using only 3 piece circulators on the boiler side and have never replaced one....the pic below is a installation from around 2013....i have been using braze plated heat exchangers.....i typically oversize them now because the one in the picture has clogged up on me twice.....i have found that oversizing them with proper maintenance they do not clog up.....if the everhot heat exchanger was less expensive i would always use it.... but for $X,XXX.XX is hard sell for a heat exchanger to heat a couple of baseboard loops....

GW

Ok great. I did a flat plate once it clogged every year. One year we flushed the boiler profusely. Went back and installed an everhot, I think the ho and I split the costs, or he paid material, I can't recall. Now I don't mind quoting the more expensive everhot. Return trips cost too much. If someone has a cheaper solution I'm almost grateful. I will keep the 3 piece in mind for next time .

adambnyc

@Paul S
Hey Paul. I've been researching heavily into running a hot water loop off my steam boiler. I'm looking at the pic above and thinking about the heat exchanger. Does that small exchanger perform well enough? That type is easier on the pocket then say an everhot.

Paul S_3

Everhot is the most ideal heat exchanger for this application....the brazed plated heat exchanger pictured above is great but it does clog when theres lack of maintenance.....i have jobs where the system is really clean and i never had a clog....

Hap_Hazzard

I think the only reason it's working is that the vertical run of the risers is enough to prevent the water droplets from escaping into the mains and the mains are sufficiently balanced to prevent the outflow from pushing the water level far enough to one side or the other to force it into one of the risers, as long as the water level is reasonably steady.

As another example of what you can get away with, this is what my near-boiler piping looked like before I repiped it:


The really amazing thing about it is that having the two risers connected by that horizontal 2" pipe you see about a foot above the boiler didn't pry the sections apart after thirty-some odd years of heating up and cooling down. That's a real testament to the steel push nipples Peerless puts in these boilers.