Blowdown With King Valves?

cross_skier

@DanHolohan says 10psi blowdowns will extend the life of boilers and @New England SteamWorks does them.  Yet king valves are rarely installed.  Any idea why?  

Does anyone have a video of a 10psi blowdown of a residential boiler?

Thanks

https://youtu.be/L11ywcjSOFA

Jamie Hall

Why? King valves aren't cheap. They have to be full port ball type valves. Priced them out lately?

cross_skier

Maybe $60 to $100 for valves.  Seems cheap if they are effective at flushing the muck out of a boiler and extending the life a boiler a few years

@DanHolohan says gate valves or butterfly valves are appropriate for king valves.  I watched @ethicalpaul 's video and he chose ball valves for his risers.  Would ball valves be ok?

delcrossv

Jamie Hall said:

Why? King valves aren't cheap. They have to be full port ball type valves. Priced them out lately?

Or rising stem gates in the larger sizes. $$$$

Full port, steam rated ball valves are fine. Don't forget you need to isolate the return as well.

cross_skier

I brought a pair of 2" Nibco T-111 rising stem valves for a $50/shipped.  That's not a lot.  I think they will be suitable.  They were new old stock.

Yes, I'll be using a 1-1/2" ball valve to isolate the return.

ethicalpaul

My ball valves are getting stiff. This may be a a downfall of all valves...exercise them every season.

retiredguy

Every steam job should have Dan's set up to remove the mud in the mud leg. A gate valve on the discharge (king valve) and a or butterfly or ball valve for the blow down is not that expensive when compared to the cost of a premature boiler failure. I always preferred USA valves to the foreign junk since the USA valves always lasted much longer.

Motorapido

ethicalpaul said:

My ball valves are getting stiff.


You better go see the doctor for that symptom.

JUGHNE

Yes, exercise your valves at least every year, that includes you Paul.

Most of the King valves I have seen are from the 30's & 50's.
Almost always 10-12' off the floor.
3-5" flanged gates that have not been touched since installation by dead men.
A couple have leaking flanges.
Might just remove them and insert the short piece with flanges instead.

There is a term for that double flanged nipple, can anyone tell me?

I figure I will not even try...might get them closed and not reopened.

Have some 2" ball valves for Kings above steam boilers that are only 20 years old.
Got 1 out of 4 to move.

cross_skier

Thanks, any experience with Nibco T-111's? They are rising stem gate, probably American made.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@cross_skier

The Nibcos are rated 125 psi steam. Cheap valve but ok.

@Jamie Hall Nipple with 2 flanges =spool piece

Not all ball valves are steam rated.

I always like Apollos...probably more $$$$$ than most

They even make Carbon Steel ball valves like the Apollo 89-100 with options for 250 # steam

I would be almost certain those Nibco's are made in China not that it matters

delcrossv

Just do the blowdown annually and they'll be fine.

cross_skier

Just to be sure I picked up two Apollo 2" forged carbon steel ball valves for a nice price.  Those are critical valves.  I'll dump the Nibcos on eBay
 Thanks

ChrisJ

I open and close my king valves yearly but have never used them.
I wash everything out with a wand.

KC_Jones

I have done 2 blowdowns on mine since 2014, with my water treatment it just doesn't get that dirty. The blowdown is....entertaining. It does blast the water out for sure.