The Pipes, The Pipes Are Calling!

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The Pipes, The Pipes Are Calling!

Steel pipe is much better than copper for steam heating work, but it does cost more to do it this way. It’s well worth it, though, and here’s why.

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MarkMurf

I had the photos but can't seem to find them . Removed an old steam job , not because of any real lack of functionality , just age . But the entire building had been piped with copper DWV 4" ! ! Had to have been 50 years old give or take . American ingenuity .

MarkMurf

For the steam piping . Not waste lines !

MarkMurf

And only cuz I was on one yesterday . I'm usually the first call for most folk who I have put replacement steam boilers in for in my 30 years out yonder in Montana . But given the distances out here sometimes I'm far afield . My #1 cohort and trusted backup likewise was unavailable , so the poor customer fell victim to a local master plumber , who sorry to say when it comes to steam , has some unshakable misconceptions . On this LOW PRESSURE , single pipe steam job I have the three story hotel dialed in to operate quietly , efficiently and trouble free running at 2.5>3.0 psi . Cut the size of the new boiler in half , as opposed to the old one and likewise cut their fuel bill by just about the same . When I got back to town , it had been fairly frigid and some of the tenants had been complaining about a lack of heat . This guy had goosed the pressure-trols up to 7-8 psi . Hiring a ghost to bang on the steam header with a sledge hammer and when I walked in the boiler was priming and surging causing the McDM 1050 to be turning the boiler on and off like a blinking Christmas bulb ! ! The new (uber-sensitive) tenants had turned the hand valves off on their radiators cuz they didn't like the 'hissing' of the air vents . Now those very same radiators HAVE no handles on those shut-off valves . The tenants have some safety foam ear plugs and the steam pressure is back to 2>3 psi . And they think it's easy ! !

nicholas bonham-carter

2-3 ounces of pressure would be even better and quieter.
Hissing radiator vents usually indicates a lack of main venting capacity.—NBC