New install/Water supply to steam boiler

amakro15

Question for the pros:
Should cold water or hot water be piped in for main water supply? I was thinking hot water from hot water heater so if auto feeder kicks on it won’t feed cold water into hot boiler causing it to crack. Yes, No, can be either or? TIA

nicholas bonham-carter

I think that cold water is better, as long as it is not connected directly into the boiler itself. The inlet should be into the wet returns.
There should be no leaks, and therefore no large amount of makeup water needed-is that your case?—NBC

amakro15

I’m not sure. It feeds into lower left side peerless 63 series. I don’t know if that goes into wet return or directly into boiler. The Hartford loop is on opposite side. Is it bad to feed hot water into it?

nicholas bonham-carter

Are you having to fill it up frequently?—NBC

amakro15

It’s new, being installed. Asked installer if he was supplying hot or cold water. In my mind I think about introducing cold water into hot boiler will make it crack. He said he could put either or.

Jamie Hall

I'd go cold, piped into the wet return if possible. And from before any water softener, if you have one.

amakro15

New install. Still have to insulate pipes

New England SteamWorks

That will work. My only nit-pick would be that the larger diameter equalizer should have extended all the way down to the Hartford loop, and all wet return 90's should be tees with drains.

JUGHNE

So where does this shinny steam pipe come from?
Is it just the camera.....the black pipe for the NG line does not have the shine??

I have seen this in a lot of pictures of NBP and wondered if paint was applied. By why if you will insulate?

Also this boiler is up on corner blocks. Is there a pan under the burners? Some burner racks are designed for the boiler sitting on a solid floor, other wise the combustion air flow might be effected. That is why some people pour a slab or lay a solid bed of blocks. FWIW

amakro15

Thank you for the tip New England SteamWorks. I will bring it up with installer.

JUGHNE I wasn’t home during install. Insulation wasn’t part of install. I planned on doing insulation myself before the cold starts. He said he painted them so it “looks nice”.
I had him put blocks under boiler to raise it a bit because we’ve had floods in the basement in the past.

Question: being that it’s not cold yet and we not using the heat, should I keep water in boiler or should it be drained till we ready to use it?

Also, I plan on installing a vapor stat and low pressure gauge 0-3psi? Any recommendations on which vaporstat? I was planning to make it my project to do myself. Any tips when installing?

JUGHNE

Anytime you fill a boiler with water you should bring it up to a good boil to remove oxygen from that new water.
If you did that then I would leave it filled until heating time.

Steam boiler water does not wear out. It only gets dirty and may need to be drained to remove sludge that may return from the old system piping.

It looks like you might have a skimming port near the pop off valve. A picture of the right side of the boiler would clarify that.

amakro15

Right side

amakro15

Is this water supply line/ and water feeder installed right? Should it be piped into wet return? Does the hieght of water feeder matter?

Where do I skim the boiler from? Is it where safety relief valve is? How would I wash/drain boiler with a washing wand? The lowest openings on each side of boiler are piped in.

Is 1” thick insulation fine for the piping? Any other recommendations on adding any controls or gauges based on what you see, and where would they go? TIA

Danny Scully

Did something happen that made you lose faith in your installer @amakro15?

amakro15

Danny Scully: didn’t lose faith. I always like to get 2nd opinions, especially I know there’s a lot of knowledgeable steam people on here. The more knowledge I have about things as a homeowner, the better

JUGHNE

Do you have any of Dan's books?

Danny Scully

I couldn’t agree more @amakro15, but have you heard the saying “Monday morning quarterback”? It’s easy for us to critique work sitting at our computers/phones. Sometimes it can cause problems between contractor/customer that are avoidable. Having said all that, I usually pipe cold water and pipe it into the wet returns if possible. Your boiler also seems to have 2 skim station. The plugged 1-1/4” 90 o the right hand side and the 3/4” 90 on the left hand side of the boiler below the relief valve. Your boiler is not set up to be wand cleaned, but was this discussed with your contractor prior? In regards to the insulation, I never suggested anything smaller than 1”. And what controls/gauges were out considering adding?

amakro15

I understand what your saying @Danny Scully. Installer said skim port drain would be installed, which I believed was where relief valve is. I wasn’t home when they installed boiler. Supposedly they said they skimmed it but from what I’ve read it takes hours to do that. I see a little foaminess in top of sight glass. As far as controls: was thinking vaporstat, low pressure gauge...

@JUGHNE yes, lost art of steam