Peerless Steam

Dan Foley

We replaced this leaking steam boiler last week. It was in a 1920s home in Bethesda MD with a Hoffman Equipped vapor system. 

The boiler return trap eas long gone, replaced with an unnecessary condensate pump.  

We we went back with a Peerless 64 and RE-piped a gravity return. 

EzzyT

Beautiful job as always @Dan Foley

Steamhead

EzzyT said:

Beautiful job as always @Dan Foley

This. And it also shows why welded headers are such a bad idea.

AdmiralYoda

@Dan Foley great install!  I have a quick general question.

Is there a specific function for the flange on the header?  I've seen this in installation manuals and never really understood what it is for.

Is it an ease of installation thing or does it serve a specific purpose?

Intplm.

@Dan Foley Gotta Luv those before and after pics.
Nice good looking job.

Danny Scully

Your Hartford looks a little too erect 🤣. Nice job @Dan Foley! 

DanHolohan

Gosh. 

Intplm.

@AdmiralYoda, I see no one is answering your question about using flanges, as opposed to another union?
The ease of installation is the main reason I do it.
If you have two unions installed in close proximity to each other, for example, on the same pipe, you sometimes take the chance of loosening one union while tightening the other. It is hard to explain and relate to unless it has happened to you.
You can actually loosen one union while tightening the other, and vise versa. This can happen at the threaded pipe or at the unions' nut. [CRAZY]
Not sure this is what was done on the above installation though.

AdmiralYoda

@Intplm.. Good to know.  I'm a DIY'er and plan on repiping my boiler in the spring.  Collecting all the usefull information I can!

JUGHNE

If that is 2 1/2" or 3" pipe cost may have been a factor.
Also potential leaking of a union that large?

EBEBRATT-Ed

@JUGHNE

Unions are always leakers LOL. I think I would use flanges on 4" and up and not a bad Idea on 2 1/2" and up.

We used to use "Dart" unions , don't know if they are still made. They had a different kind of seat. The MFG used to claim you could put their unions together crooked and they wouldn't leak.

I looked for them a few years ago and couldn't find them so maybe there gone or someone bought them out.

I resorted to buying 300# BM unions if I needed something good instead of the normal 150#

Intplm.

I usually use flanges for 2 inch through 4 inch and above piping for all of the before mentioned reasons. They can be ungainly, expensive, and make for leaks when heated. Expansion, and contraction etc. The large-diameter ones leave a chance for a call back that I certainly do not need.

SlowYourRoll

nice work!

PC7060

Steamhead said:

Beautiful job as always @Dan Foley

This. And it also shows why welded headers are such a bad idea.

Agree the workmanship is top notch. The welds of that old header system looked pretty good. Are welds in steam piping a bad idea due to the thermal stress leading to cracking? Looks like that system lasted for several decades, amazing.

regarding admiralyoda‘s question about unions versus bolt Flange, bolt flanges work better on large pipe assembly and ensure proper mating even when pipe are slightly misaligned. Working a union on that size of a pipe would be very challenging unless it was perfectly aligned. And one take one big ole wrench too! 

Jamie Hall

The only real problem with welded anything -- headers or anything else -- is that attention has to be paid to where expansion and contraction can take place. If the assembly is attached to another assembly which will expand or contract at a different rate, and there are two (or more!) points of attachment, some provision has to be made for the expansion -- flanged joints, threaded joints, something of the sort, or dedicated flexible couplings, or long enough expansion loops. Otherwise the forces are tremendous.