What the heck is this? This

Hydronicolic

I was told this is a one-pipe system.

Jamie Hall

my bet is going to be some old form of F&T trap. Which probably doesn't work any more…

EBEBRATT-Ed

Alternating boiler return trap or "canned ham" Vapor system used to pump condensate back to the boiler with steam pressure.

pumpcontrolguy

Definitely a steam trap of some sort. I'm enjoying the fact that it's got a gauge glass on top to see how backed up the condensate is.

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1869924#Comment_1869924

the gauge glass is what makes me lean toward boiler return trap vs just an ordinary steam trap.

what kind of trim is on the radiators?

Intplm.

Possibly an older version of one of these? A pump trap.

DanHolohan

Boiler return trap

retiredguy

It is a steam tap made by Empire Trap company. I saw a lot of Empire traps on very old systems. A lot of them were bucket traps but this one could be an F&T. You would have to open it up to find out.

Hydronicolic

Thanks for the replies. Pretty sure this is on a one pipe system. What would replace this today?

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1870067#Comment_1870067

What is it doing? How is it hooked up? There are many options depending on what its function is.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Unusual to see that on 1 pipe steam. Don't know how that would work. Several companies make pumping traps. Most of the larger trap manufacturers make pumping traps. $$$$.

Its only function is to pump condensate back to the boiler

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1870138#Comment_1870138

unless that is something different, usually "boiler return traps" just let some steam in to the returns to equalize the pressure to let the water back in to the boiler.

Steamhead

Maybe the building was once served by district steam?

EBEBRATT-Ed

Maybe but didn't most district steam systems dump the condensate??

Steamhead

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1870224#Comment_1870224

You'd still need to stop the steam from leaving the system before it condensed.

EBEBRATT-Ed

True, But you wouldn't do that with a "master trap" the radiation or equipment should have its own trap.

Steamhead

If it's a one-pipe system, the only locations for a trap would be the drips from the steam mains, and they would have to handle the load of all the radiation on their mains- same as if you were using a boiler-feed pump. This is not master-trapping.