A material question: Galvanized vs. brass? bronze?

Hipape

I was curios about the actual pressure my ptrol sees so decided to add a 0-3psi gauge. Not wanting to remove the (always at 0psi) 0-30psi gauge, the lwco controller and the sight glass, I decided to buy ahead of time a new pigtail (just in case) and wait for a warmish day. The plan was to bend the pigtail so I could unscrew it with attached ptrol and if I puta kink in it or something, that was what the spare was for. As it happens, it broke off at the bushing it screwed into. Note: before I got started, I loosened the pigtail ~ 1/8 of a turn - again, just to make sure, then returned it to make ptrol level again...

To make a long story short (no, the 6 piece nipple extractor set from home depot which includes 1/4" in the list did NOT include a piece that fit!) I removed the bushing that screwed into the boiler tapping - its gold colored - I'm guessing brass or bronze? Anyhow, all I could find locally (3/4"-1/4") was "galvanized". Question: Is an ok choice of material? Following the wisdom of this forum, I added a union to the pigtail just before a tee to the 0-3psi gauge - so it should be straightforward to replace the bushing if the answer to my question is "No!" or "Never!" Thank you!

The good news is that the pressure never exceeds about 0.15psi - even during a long firing during my 4 deg setback recovery (20 minutes on, followed by a brief "intermittent level test" then another 11 minutes on.) On a relatively mild day like today, mid teens, boiler turns on every ~50 minutes or so and stays on for 10-12 minutes. Boiler was put in a few months ago - roughly a size smaller than the boiler it replaced: New one says 354 steam sq ft, old one said 446 sq ft. Low pressure is a good thing, right?

JUGHNE

You want brass, copper or black pipe. The galv can flake off from steam and possibly cause problems.

Jamie Hall

Your pressures are fine -- boiler right sized, venting adequate, go for it!