Steam wet return

Snowmelt

General statement working on 175,000 btu steam boiler the return pipping looks like 1 inch copper going roughly 30 feet along the floor , should that be a minimum of 1-1/4 or it doesn’t really matter ?

Jamie Hall

Be nice if it were bigger -- it wouldn't clog so often -- but keep in mind that the flow in a wet return is pretty small. At your boiler size, you are looking at only about a quart and a half per minute...

Snowmelt

Only question it because the homeowner saw water spitting out of the vent

JUGHNE

I just did a 177,000 input boiler and used 1" copper for wet return.
Did the math/homework and it was all that was needed.
(Plus I had the 1" in stock )

Now if it was plugged, or you have wet steam, faulty air vent or steam main with water pocket, high steam pressure,..... then maybe the spitting problem.

Jamie Hall

Snowmelt said:

Only question it because the homeowner saw water spitting out of the vent

Lots of reasons for that other than an undersize wet return! Too much pressure, too fast a vent, wet steam... the list goes on.

Snowmelt

Most likely wet steam , I’m guessing in that , the pressure trol was set at 1.5 I’m going to replace the gauge , the near boiler piping wasn’t the best , bare minimum with 2 tees instead of three take off, lots of rotted pipe that was changed out. I’m going to take a picture in a few days , it’s still working , just not the best set up