Cool old stuff

Steve_210

Steamhead

That's a Webster "Type R" Vapor system.

Steve_210

I read what I I could about it in laosh. A lot of water hammer, steam getting into return risers, trying to temporary isolate some of the risers to find the problems.
steam drops down before going up the riser, crossover trap at base of each riser.
Vents on top of Webster device in picture above seem small

Steve_210

thanks

retiredguy

I saw about 10 old steam systems that had that set-up that worked perfectly until someone tried to re-engineer the system or decided that he knew how to make it work better.

Mad Dog_2

Ah..Mr Webster....Great system. Mad Dog

Jamie Hall

Get the pressure down, @Steve_210 ! And then lower it some more. Anything over 8 ounces is going to cause trouble.

Odds are that some of the widgets that are supposed to be there aren't any more. The "I don't know what that is so I can throw it out" method of repair. Take a good look at the system description in LAOSH, but also think about just how it was intended to work.

The main vent may not be too small, although so long as someone didn't get creative and add other vents somewhere it won't hurt to make it bigger. But ay attention to the crossover traps — they have to be working properly, and the dry returns they vent into also have to be clear…