Steam coming from the main vent

DMCPIPE44

I have been working on boiler systems for over 44 years and many have been steam. Although I do mainly commercial steam and hot water boilers, the theory/physics are the same. One of the most important portion on most any steam system is the Hartford loop. The purpose is to created a natural steam trap and to create a pressure differential between the steam side and the condensate side of the system which allows the steam to be trapped in the system and also to use the pressure of the steam to push back the condensate through the Hartford loop and back into the boiler, Ed the heating guy has it right in his pics. The way the Hartford loop is piped will allow a bypass of steam and a premature condensation of steam. furthermore it will allow steam from the boiler header to back up the return and trap condensate from running downstream causing knocking in the pipes and in many cases the boiler to shut down on low water cut off. The efficiency suffers the most as you are not utilizing the steam energy to its fullest potential. The best thing you can do is fix the Hartford loop and im sure you will see a huge difference in your energy cost. then move on to the next problem.

all the best

ethicalpaul

I agree, the physics is the same. And I proved that the Hartford loop and equalizer do not affect the pressure anywhere in the system during steam production. And condensate flow is not affected by the pressure of the system, because that same pressure is everywhere.

I did this by putting a valve in my equalizer and measuring the pressure in inches of WC at the boiler and at the far end of the main, and also by observing the water level at the far end.

My video is here. At 18:20 is a good place to see this, but I showed it several times in the video and of course watch from the start to see the setup of the experiment.

For everyone else, sorry about the repetition but this is going to take a long time to correct, if ever.