wye strainer for steam main vents

snugglez

Hi, apologies if this has already been discussed--I couldn't find it if so.

I have two older CI steam boilers. I added gorton #1 main vents to each, about 18" back from the end of the lines. At the time I didn't know to add wye strainers. One of the vents got stuck open the other day, and was just spewing steam into the basement. I am assuming some crud just got stuck in the valve preventing it from closing. I tapped it with a wrench and it closed right up.

Seems to be working fine now (a few days later), but now I'm nervous--I want to add wye strainer to each.

I have zero vertical room, (low ceiling vs main line diff), so they would need to be added on the 3/4 or 1" horizontal run before the 90 up to the vents.

questions:

1. does material matter for these? I was going to get Watts LF777SI (like these: http://www.supplyhouse.com/Watts-0379112-3-4-LF777SI-Lead-Free-Brass-Wye-Strainer-Threaded), but not 100% sure that's correct--any reason to go with another style/material?

2. Does size matter? The vents are gorton #1s, so they are already at 3/4. But the Ts off the main vents are 1" which neck down to 3/4, so I could potentially put 1" wye before the reduction to 3/4. Any reason to do that, since it costs more I'm tempted to stick with 3/4.

thank you! Please let me know if you need more information than I've provided!

EBEBRATT-Ed

y strainers are not normally used on air vents. I would recommend removing the vents and cleaning with vinegar if they were new or replacing if they are old.

you could put a valve on the vent location and start the boiler and blow the crud out with the valve....don't get burnt.

you could use a hose or some pipe nipples to run it to a safe place like into a bucket of cold water to quench the steam.

If you still want strainers cast iron is cheaper than brass

dennis53

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Watts-0220073-3-4-77SI-Cast-Iron-Wye-Strainer-Threaded-5115000-p

nicholas bonham-carter

Those Gorton 1's are probably not large enough to let the air out with minimum resistance. I would replace them with Gorton 2's or bigmouth vents. They will shorten the burner time at each cycle. Time the arrival time of steam with the current venting, and then put the other Gorton 1 on in addition to the one already there and retime the steam arrival. There is bound to be an improvement. Inadequate main venting will be more likely to pick up debris from the air stream exiting, and thus get stuck open. Shut the ventless boiler off at the switch as you do this.
I would also check your operating pressure with a good low pressure gauge, (0-3 psi), and verify that your pressuretrol is keeping the pressure below 1.5 psi, (basic function), or if you have a vaporstat, 4 ounces, (economy and comfort).--NBC

snugglez

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

y strainers are not normally used on air vents. I would recommend removing the vents and cleaning with vinegar if they were new or replacing if they are old.

you could put a valve on the vent location and start the boiler and blow the crud out with the valve....don't get burnt.

you could use a hose or some pipe nipples to run it to a safe place like into a bucket of cold water to quench the steam.

If you still want strainers cast iron is cheaper than brass

Thanks, for some reason I thought I read in one of Dan Holohans books that a wye was recommended, but I admit it's been a while.

nicholas bonham-carter said:

Those Gorton 1's are probably not large enough to let the air out with minimum resistance. I would replace them with Gorton 2's or bigmouth vents. They will shorten the burner time at each cycle. Time the arrival time of steam with the current venting, and then put the other Gorton 1 on in addition to the one already there and retime the steam arrival. There is bound to be an improvement. Inadequate main venting will be more likely to pick up debris from the air stream exiting, and thus get stuck open. Shut the ventless boiler off at the switch as you do this.
I would also check your operating pressure with a good low pressure gauge, (0-3 psi), and verify that your pressuretrol is keeping the pressure below 1.5 psi, (basic function), or if you have a vaporstat, 4 ounces, (economy and comfort).--NBC

Yeah, I have to get a good pressure gauge for sure. I'm new to steam so I'm just going through the basic obvious mechanical things like "it's obviously totally missing main vents, I shall add those." Yeah, the #1s were much cheaper than the #2s so I just got those. I completely missed the big mouths. I'll likely order some of those... I'll test with both #1s on one as you suggest, first, though. Thanks!