whats going on here!

dobro23

just left a house with a leaking boiler. very strange stuff! take a look at these pics and tell me whats going on. there are about 8 or so radiators in the house and all are 1 pipe with adjustable radiator valves correctly placed. the everhot supplies a hydroair loop with a 1st co air handler in the attic. about 25 feet above. the 1st take off of the header is 3" and supplies 1 radiator in the dining room. thats it. it's 1-1/4" the 2nd take off does the rest of the house. it splits 2 ways after the flange union and at the end of these runs is a main like vent AND an F+T Trap. then becomes a wet return WITH a check valve before eventually tying together into a hartford loop type of set up. also the read riser off the boiler has been cut and capped. I ASSUME it's because the steam was colliding with itself and water hammer issues etc. so.... 1> do i need the F+T's? i thknk they were added after the fact and incidently, the one f+t with the 2 1-1/4 pipes have 24" risers that have been plugged. the old mainline vents are laying on the shelf next to it. I assume the traps were added after having issues. they look brand new and have white teflon tape as does the plug and cap on the second boiler riser. 2. is there any harm in leaving the 3" pipe to service the 1 radiator in the dining room? 3. Do I NEED a dropped header because i dont really have room for it. (my plan was to reuse the existing 3" header but make both risers supply to the same side of the house take offs. then equalize after them) also planning on a megasteam. currently a peerless ec04. replacing the everhot due to age mostly. not sure if a domestic coil would have the btu's so should i get another everhot or maybe a shell in tube? a plate exchanger would probably clog right up i assume. is everhot still around??!!!

New England SteamWorks

All I can say is: "For Once It Wasn't Me!"

It's been hacked. Your job to fix. Look at the piping that is still original, then put on your thinking cap and determine how it was originally piped, from there figure out how to get it back to original (more or less).

Everhot is still around, great option to add a loop. But if you are starting from scratch, a coil is better. And if you are staying with oil, Burnham MegaSteam your only credible option for replacement boiler.

Can't tell from pics, but maybe that loop seal used to be below the waterline and now isn't. So rather than lower the seal they added the trap?

dobro23

@new england steam works: thanks for the insight. not sure what you mean by "loop seal" if you are talking about the F+T traps, the one at the end of the main is almost at eye level and the other is almost chest high. they are both about the water line. the boiler sits on the same floor as the rest of the basement. no wet returns are buried. but at some point ( probably after the traps were added) the wet returns were redone in copper with a sweat check valve on each one. I would have no problem removing the check valves and dropping the mains to the floor after the main vents and replacing the vents on those 24" risers at the F+T. and also appropriately sizing the vents. something i forgot to mention earlier is that the customer is making HW with a bock 51e on borrowed time. i offered an indirect off the boiler water or an aquabooster off the coil. not sure which is the better option with steam. i go back and forth on that topic all the time. but it will affect the method used to heat the hydro air.