Wet Return drain? And piping angle question

blockafterblock

Our first fall/winter in a house with steam heat. We our currently fixing some stuff in the basement from the prior owner’s contractor. My contractor pointed out the drain (he thought it was another hookup, but I know people don’t know steam systems). Our system seems a little complex (header splits pretty early into 2/3/4 loops it seems to me [see my poor drawing]). Does the wet return need a drain (can we remove it and cap that part of the pipe [so the wall could be flat]?)? This drain is well before the other part of the system connects to it (probably 20ft of piping, then additional 8ft to the Hartford loop). The other question I have is whether I should be worried about the angle/pitch of one of the pipes (asterisk on drawing) it does continue downward to the dry return then wet return. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to test this segment too much (clogged/broken vents that I’m waiting to arrive), but from what I’ve seen, most of the time any piping that slopes downward typically doesn’t feed radiators after it slopes down? Not sure we could fix it anyway given the setup/structure. Also, since my system has 4 pipes that connect to the wet return above the water line, should each of those have a dry vent? From what I see, the vent basically just services the 3 radiators in the middle of my drawing (column 2). The other lines could maybe have a vent behind drywall but I don’t think they do and if it’s needed, would rather have it accessible so it can be replaced if necessary. With the system, only problems are clogged vents (working on replacing), one vent that hisses (radiator 6), broken valve handles (radiators 1, 6, 9; I tried to replace but apparently modern valves are not the same size so I am just using pliers to open them), and springing/clanging from radiator 9. Radiators 2 and 7 have been left closed since the attic isn’t insulated (next project). I know this was a long post so I guess to wrap it up: do I need this drain (star), will the pipe angle be a problem (asterisk), and are more dry vents needed/worth the effort?

Jamie Hall

Any traps between the steam mains and the "dry return"? If not, and the rest of the drawing reasonably accurate, this is a one pipe steam system — and as such it has steam mains, steam main extensions, and wet returns. It does NOT have true dry returns — and the distinction between a steam main extension and a true dry return is really important. Not trivial at all.

Now, that said, Any steam main or steam main extension must pitch towards a drip — a more or less vertical pipe (usually) which drops down to a wet return. Doesn't matter really which way it pitches, so long as it pitches so that water in it can drain to a wet return. What you don't want is a low spot which can't drain.

I'm not quite clear on what you mean by "four pipes which connect to the wet return above the water line". Can you clarify that? If these are steam main extensions, it's fine if they have drips which go below the water line individually — but if the connect above the water line and then go down below, you can have some rather interesting problems. Not major, but difficult to analyse.

As to that drain — it's probably a handy place to drain any sludge which accumulates in the wet return…

blockafterblock

I guess had meant the four loops because they don’t meet up before the wet return. So they branch off and then join back together at the lowest part of the system. So saying no true dry return would be accurate. So would capping this and putting a drain elsewhere along the return (ideally in the utility room) be viable? All of the piping seems to either be flat or pitch toward the wet return overall.

ethicalpaul

I would have better luck with your questions if they were separated into paragraphs with their related info. That wall of text is hard to parse!!

Jamie Hall

A drain for a wet return can be anywhere along its length, so yes you can move it. It is, however, nice to have a plug or drain at both ends of a wet return, to flush it out from time to time.