A thorn in my side, removed

Mustangman

Good afternoon everyone.
Many years ago, I read my first article in P&M and it was penned by a man Named Dan Holohan. Dan made some of the most boring subjects very interesting by telling a story along with what he was trying to teach. I'm telling you I learned a lot from Dan and his stories.
Not that I am anywhere near Dan's ability to write, but I do have a load of stories and most have a lesson that goes along with it.
I am near retirement age 65 and have done nothing but Plumbing, Heating and HVAC since I was 18. I have seen "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" of this industry. I want to share a story that took me well over a year to figure out.
I got a call from a client who lives in an area of town with bigger well kept homes, loaded with steam and hot water systems.
I get a call from a guy who had 2 hot water radiators that would not heat. I did the norm. Crank up the stat and watch. Feel the piping to see where its hot and not. I found both radiator supplys were not very hot in the basement and cold at the radiator.
So upstairs I go to the second radiator not working. Same deal... cold!
I decided to take apart the radiator at the 1/2 union on the return side. It had some sludge but not much. I ended up blowing air thru the return to make sure it was open. I did this to both of them. I did not have a positive feeling about the problem being solved.
I put everything back together, filled the system back up, bled everything and surprisingly enough... those 2 radiators worked. I just had a feeling I was going to be back.
2 days later the customer calls in a panic. Said it sounds like there are marbles in his pipes. Im thinking what the hell.
I go there, turn the stat up and as soon as the circulator comes on, it sounds like marbles rolling around in the piping. I'm thinking what the heck am I going to do now. The homeowner is breathing down my neck. You guys know how noise echos in those big steel pipe systems. I decided to use an ultra sonic leak detector and try to hone in on the highest noise on the detector. At least this may get me pointed in the right direction.
I found the 2 loudest readings on the radiator piping. Both were on 3/4" branch returns that connected to the radiators I blew out a week ago.
I drained the system AGAIN. I started hammering on the piping, tryig to get a rattle. Nothing. I decided I had to cut the returns, a foot from where they connect to the return main. I was shocked with what I found.
Each branch, right near a 45 ell that came off the main I found a 1/2" or so, lead ball.
My first thought was someone intentionally put them there because the contractor was worried about payment. Seen that movie before on that one.
Needless to say, once the balls were removed, everything heated perfectly.
I am one of those guys that have to know why. I found out for sure this was a steam system converted to HW. I wondered if the balls were in a trap at one point. After some research, I found that a Bimetal trap has that marble built in. It was part of the discharge port.
I am not sure if it indeed was a Bimetal trap that when they took it off to convert to HW, the ball must have fallen into the return line.
This job remided me about patience and persistence. It would have been easy to walk away but most all the techs want to know why to everything. Most of those guys are good techs. Steve

Steamhead

One reason we don't convert steam to hot-water.

Mustangman

Again, not sure what traps they had in there but here is a picture of a Bimetal trap. Take notice of the marble. I would think there are more traps that use a metal marble in their operation.

DanHolohan

A fine story, Steve. Thanks for sharing! 

Steamhead

Mustangman said:

Again, not sure what traps they had in there but here is a picture of a Bimetal trap. Take notice of the marble. I would think there are more traps that use a metal marble in their operation.

Haven't seen one of these in the field- but the Richardson and O-E systems used balls in their return fittings as vacuum checks.