Guide A Residential Steam Beginner

MitchW

Hello All,

About me:

I'm a DIY kind of guy. My sidewalk contractor yesterday called me fussy. I take that as a compliment. But I'm not "so" DIY that I don't respect people who know what they are talking about and I try to understand my limitations/lack of knowledge. And I like to establish relationships with, and take care of, good people who do good work who I can trust who have my back. But sometimes I'm finding contractors who have the mechanical skills but not the knowledge. (We can talk about upside down attic vents that were going to be installed where they would funnel water IN like crazy and "short circuit" the ventilation ... and me finding it out before they got too far along).

We live in northern NY near the Adirondack mountains. Occasional 15F below zero nights. Winter is a thing here.

On to Steam:

20 years ago we bought a 1920's 2 story 1600sf home with residential steam. Short story: it worked well, I didn't know much about it and had myriad other things to worry about with an old house. Plus anybody I called basically said 'it's working what do you want' or 'don't worry about it, there's nothing to worry about with steam' or 'we don't get much call to work on one-a-these'. Yikes. Just leave now please ... Others just never returned my calls when I said "steam".

Found a contractor who helped with a leaky low water cutoff probe, adjusted water levels, did whatever else, and things seemed to run a little better than they had.

It's an old coal system, updated to a Weil McClain natural gas boiler, based on the coal door and the coal bin and the coal fragments we still find.

A couple of issues with occasional hammer but nothing much to catch my attention. Everything ran OK for years.

Then, The Plot Thickens ...

• I noticed the water feed going off several times a week to refill the boiler.
  
• The hammer seemed to show up in the same spot more frequently
  
• And ... the dehumidifier kicked on a couple of times in the basement in the winter...
  

So learning from this great forum, I checked around and found that there is some air valve trouble.

Now I know there are a lot of considerations but I want to start small and expand outward. But I'll post a ton of photos.


Let's Dive In!

Checking the Weil McClain site, their serial number checker doesn't have age reports for EC and EG boilers. So I don't know how old it is. I blindly guess it has to be from the 1980's as the owner (real estate agent and a developer type) did a rehab of the house and the following 2 owners I am certain did nothing.

Please see the photo 015.

• Air vent 3 seems to expel a big blob of air. If I put my hand over it as the system kicks on I can feel and hear air expelling. I can't "stop" it as it seems to be exhausting from a large orifice.
  
• Air vent 2 does nothing. No air vents, no steam comes out. The piping in this vicinity which I *think* runs to the second floor is where I get a variety of hammer/snapping/pinging and the occasional "crap something exploded" metallic bang (then the hammer ends ..) during the start of deep cold weather.
  
• Air vent 1 is the new problem. It vents air, then vents steam continuously. On startup this season, I tapped it with the side of a screwdriver and heard it click closed. No more steam venting. That only worked once.
  

I'll attach as many photos as I can.

And I thank you all in advance for reading all of my info and for any help you might be able to offer.


So where do I begin?

Jamie Hall

Not bad. Not bad at all.

On the vents. Whoever put them where they are wasn't thinking... they are beautifully placed to be hammered by any water wandering by. Plus, they probably aren't big enough. However, all is not lost -- give use the length and diameter of the steam mains they are on, and we can give you some ideas as to what to replace them with. As to location, the best bet on all three of them is to go up two or three inches with a nipple, then 90 degree el back along the pipe, then another 90 and up to the new vent or vents. Other than getting them out of there in the first place, piece of cake.

On the hammering noise -- make sure that all of the pipes pitch in a direction so they can drain. It doesn't have to be that much pitch, but they do have to pitch to drain. Watch out for sags in the middle of longer runs -- you wouldn't think an iron pipe could sag, but they can, at least enough to hammer.

The vents may be the source of the water loss -- I don't see wet returns, which are the other usual suspects (except the boiler itself... if that's leaking, you'll likely see billowing clouds of steam from the chimney, and that's not good).

Pressure. The system would benefit from dialing the cutin pressure on the pressuretrol to a bit less than a pound. Don't go lower -- these things can and do fall apart if they get set too low.

And last but not least -- buy either "We Got Steam Heat" or, if you really want to understand the system thoroughly, "The Lost Art of Steam Heating" -- both from the store on this site. I'd suggest that you may want the latter sooner or later, as folks who work on steam heat are a bit thin on the ground up your way, and your DIY skills may come in handy. And, of course, we'll help as much as we can.

Dave0176

Unfortunately the header on that boiler is not good, it basically a vertical header, very tough to remove carry over water when the equalizer is piped that way. Boiler appears to be from the very early 90s based on the probe LWCO.

MitchW

Thanks so much for the advice. I'll get back in touch with some pipe lengths/diameters. And yeah, experienced folks are hard to find here. I do have a good craftsman/technician plumber (so we'll let him torque the 90 year old pipes ...) but I'm sure some "advice/suggestions/hey lets do this" will be well received.

Jamie Hall

Dave0176 said:

Unfortunately the header on that boiler is not good, it basically a vertical header, very tough to remove carry over water when the equalizer is piped that way. Boiler appears to be from the very early 90s based on the probe LWCO.

This is true. But... it's something which probably can be left until a new boiler is required.

Neild5

The Hartford loop should be just a close nipple, the close nipple, union and 4 to 6 inch nipple can cause water hammer.

Steamhead

Jamie Hall said:

Dave0176 said:

Unfortunately the header on that boiler is not good, it basically a vertical header, very tough to remove carry over water when the equalizer is piped that way. Boiler appears to be from the very early 90s based on the probe LWCO.

This is true. But... it's something which probably can be left until a new boiler is required.

I'd change it. It looks like 2" pipe. On an EG-45, if you're using a single riser it has to be minimum 2-1/2" pipe. This, and the improper configuration is likely causing at least some water hammer.

The manual, which includes piping specs, is here:

https://www.weil-mclain.com/sites/default/files/field-file/EG EGH Series 5 Boiler Manual 0117.pdf

MitchW

Hello All,

Pipe Lengths!

I'm back with some additional info. Thanks for waiting as I'm self-employed and when work comes in, I go out. Plus, crawling around to trace where this nest of pipes goes ... took a bit of time.

I *may* not have all the risers to the second floor and to the first floor radiators diagrammed.

But hopefully this will get things started.

In the diagram, I refer to the air valves by numbers corresponding to the labels in the photo with my original post. And I'm hoping those original photos will "explain" where the pipes from the boiler tie in to the system.

Additional Info:

The main vertical pipe that rises from the boiler is 2.5 inches dia.

It "bushings" into the 3 inch dia. system distribution pipe shown on my drawing.

The Diagrams:





]
My curent takeaways:

• Valve #2 that is frozen shut is supposed to vent a pretty big part of the system, one that has risers to an upstairs bedroom that is cooler than everywhere else unless the system is running hard for an extended cold period.
  
• 
  
• Valve #3 which works is on a bushing to accommodate the smaller pipe that it is connected to.
  
• 
  

Thanks for all the input!

MitchW

And sorry, I used the word "valve". In this discussion I mean air vent ...

GBart

I'm also concerned about what appears to be two check valves in the returns, not sure I see any equalizer, the entire thing should have been repiped when the boiler was replaced.

Ken Johnson

From what I can see of it, at least some of the pipe insulation you have looks very much like what the asbestos abatement guys removed from our house. If that is what it is, take care.

1Matthias

GBart said:

I'm also concerned about what appears to be two check valves in the returns, not sure I see any equalizer, the entire thing should have been repiped when the boiler was replaced.

Yep, I'll be darned if those aren't check valves. There does appear to be a vague imitation of an equalizer coming off of the header, such as it is, but there's also two long nipples and a union at the hartford loop...not good.

Ken Johnson said:

From what I can see of it, at least some of the pipe insulation you have looks very much like what the asbestos abatement guys removed from our house. If that is what it is, take care.

Yep. That looks exactly like the asbestos insulation that exists in many neighborhoods around here. Worryingly, in the background of the 15th photo, it looks like someone has wrapped a section of the pipe in duct tape, suggesting the insulation had deteriorated and started to fray.