Systems with a dedicated return line vs. all main loop ?

CoachBoilermaker

My system has a long square main line. It starts at the boiler, loops around the basement, and returns right back into the boiler. Entire main runs along ceiling.

My friend's system has a main that goes to the other side of basement, and then drops into a smaller pipe that runs along the ground to loop back to the boiler.

What are these 2 different systems called ? Which is better and more updated?

JUGHNE

You have an extended steam main back to the boiler, you might have take offs near the end of the main after which some might call that pipe a dry return. But it is still a steam main. Your advantage is that you could put your air vents in the boiler room. Disadvantage is that you have to send steam to the air vent location which could be farther than necessary for heating purposes. Not much to worry about if you have pipe insulation.

Your friends system has a steam main with a drop into a wet return….always full of water….prone to rusting.

His air vents have to connect before the drop to the wet return because you cannot pass the air thru the water.

His piping costs less because the return pipe is smaller….but will rust out long before your extended steam main.

You have limited wet return at the boiler as your steam main should drop down and then come up in the Hartford Loop connected directly to the boiler. Easy to flush and/or replace.

CoachBoilermaker

I have one main vent right at the end of the loop.

I do not have a Hartford loop.

See video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NtN42o6bL5bc-ZkV8BSX9_Ll4xWvYPDc/view?usp=sharing

ethicalpaul

Well you kind of don't really need a hartford loop (they don't do hardly anything today anyway)…your "wet return" is about 2 feet long and seems to be mostly copper. As you said, your main returns all the way back to the boiler, as lots of them do, and it drops right there next to the boiler, at least as far as I can tell from this still from your video.

CoachBoilermaker

Thanks for looking, Paul.

Glad my system seems correct.

In your case, the "wet return" (the part of the system where condensed steam—water—returns to the boiler) is very short, only about 2 feet long, and made of copper. Since your main steam pipe runs all the way back to the boiler and drops close to it, the system has a natural fail-safe where the boiler can maintain water levels without needing a complex piping arrangement like a Hartford Loop.

Because the return piping is so short, and the boiler setup is simpler, the Hartford Loop becomes less crucial. The copper wet return already minimizes the risk of corrosion or breaks, and since there's not a lot of piping to worry about, the loop wouldn't offer much additional protection or benefit in this modern context.

ethicalpaul

just wondering, are you asking ChatGPT to answer the questions that we just answered, and then posting those AI answers??

Also I didn’t say it’s correct, just that it seems fine