665k btu steam job

AndythePlumber

Hello all! A client of ours has a steam boiler in a church. Heat exchanger was replaced in 2014. It needs to be again. The bottom is just gone.
2 zone valves are currently installed and I would like to remove them. Couple questions.

Can anyone add insight to piping arrangment in building pics?

I don’t know why there is a boiler feed pump. Do I need it? It looks to me like a gravity return job that someone added a pump to for reasons unknown.

There are some wet returns under the floor are in unknown condition(probably poor if I were a betting man)

Definitely plan on repiping in entirety and raising the header-currently 16 above wl

Still trying to measure a dimension…

AndythePlumber

Also. See the 3/4” steam supply going through a trap and down to the wet returns? What’s that for?? Is it to force condensate into the pump if the return backs up?? Idk. Thanks for any and all help!

Jamie Hall

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1824332#Comment_1824332

That is one very good approach to venting a steam main. It allows air to pass freely until steam reaches it — like a huge vent — but also allows any condensate which gets to that end of the main to pass. All while blocking steam from getting into the main.

There's no force involved, unless you think of gravity as a force… which it is.

delcrossv

10 years on a HE is awfully short. How much makeup water was it using?

AndythePlumber

AndythePlumber

not sure about make-up water yet-that’s a great question though. I need to speak with the right people at the church, and haven’t yet. Just scratching the surface with this project. I would love to get rid of that pump and do a full gravity return. I don’t see why it’s necessary on this installation. The boiler is in the basement. Is there something I’m missing?

delcrossv

Check your B dimension relative to your pressure and available drop..