If Near Piping Works, But is Not To Specs, Should it Be Changed?

geoprell

My new Burnham IN5 gas boiler is working fine, heating all my 8 radiators as good as my old Weil-Mclain 368 oil-fired boiler did.

The contractor installed the new boiler to the existing near piping, only changing out the drip end of the dry return, the Hartford loop and the wet return between them.

PERFORMANCE:
3/8" to 1/2" max. bounce in Gauge Glass.
1" max. drop in water level in Gauge Glass (between normal water line and low point of bounce).
1.5 psi cut out / .75 psi cut in. Pressuretrol.
No water hammer.
Manually add approximately 6 oz. water a week to maintain water level (middle of Gauge Glass).

WHATS NOT TO SPEC:
EQUALIZER:
Equalizer is 1-1/4" (spec 1-1/2"). Also "Lost Art" says equalizer should drop below water line before changing directions with fittings. Mine has an elbow above the water line then pitches down to the Hartford loop below the water line.
MAIN:
The high point of the "Main" is at the corner of an "L" (6' to the side of the boiler), not above the boiler. The six foot section of "Main" ("L" shaped) in front of the boiler pitches back to the boiler because of the low ceiling height. That section of "Main" has twice the pitch (2%) though,and has no water hammer.
BOILER PITCH:
The floor below the boiler has a 3% pitch to the rear of the boiler (3/8"). The boiler was not "leveled" because it gives the "Header" proper pitch to the Equalizer.
RISER:
Have a single Riser (second Riser is optional). But "Lost Art" says "Exit Velocity" of steam should be below 15 ft./sec. (23 ft./sec. max for 2" pipe). My "Exit Velocity" is 34 ft./sec.. I would need a second Riser to obtain a "Exit Velocity" of 17 ft./sec..

CONCERNS:
My contractor says don't mess with something that is working. If their was water hammer or an unstable water level he would do something, but my system is working fine.

Also, I am wondering, since my boiler has been running for two months now, would trying to remove the "Riser" and "Plug" risk cracking the boiler sections?

See attached pictures.

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks

lchmb

sometimes the craziest things work incredibly well.. and as my Father once told me, you cant fix what isn't broken. If your fuel usage is reasonable, the heat is even, no noise..what are you trying to fix?

Jamie Hall

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Many jobs are not piped "textbook". Those on this forum and the LAOSH can only tell how to do it right. Nobody tells how to do it wrong.

It's a matter of degrees of wrong. Cut 1 corner...... ok, cut two corners......maybe, cut three corners....who the hell knows.

Yours is much better than most. It's working fine. leave it alone. I agree with @lchmb

Zman

The last think you want to be is a solution looking for a problem...

delta T

Agree. I have a customer with a one pipe system that now (after I re piped the header and wet returns and added main vents) works wonderfully. The system has been so jacked together by so many people in the past that repairing the piping would require a major renovation. I still can't understand how it works without shaking the building apart, but it works, so it stays.

Keep in mind that the piping that is "correct" is based on 150 years of trial and error mixed with engineering and science. It is the way to pipe a system to guaranty that all the potential problems with steam heat do not happen. It doesn't mean that other ways of piping a system won't work.

I say leave it.