drop header

Steamhead

as Noel and Ron have said. On that job, my partners both said they've never had it so easy.

One of the original reasons for using a drop header is to allow for higher risers between the boiler and the header, to help make the steam dryer. This comes in handy when you don't have much height in the basement. But they're so much easier to assemble, I recommend them for all steam boiler installations.

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Dave Palmer_3

drop header

I'm doing a replacement in a couple of weeks,big old Weil to be replaced by a SGO9,header now is 4 inch was wondering if piping up to that with the 2 risers would be easier with a drop header?I've done 3" with flanges but a pain to wrestle it into place.Any easier? Any photos(Steamhead,Maddog,Ron?) would be great so I could get the jeest of it,thanks Dave

Unknown

Yep , we used a drop header on 4 inch

last year in an old movie theater . This is one application where it might save alot of time piping it that way . Heres a pic of the header - sorry about the angle , there was no room to take a good pic .

And yes , we used mainly 4 inch malleable . I was not about to send someone around the island to try to track down all cast fittings for aesthetics . Especially with 4 inch , malleable is much more easy to grip in a pipe wrench . My advise would be to install 2 unions on each riser pipe right out of the boiler . We have to go back to this job sometime because theres a thread leak on the front riser out of the boiler , and I dont have a union there , so the nipples gotta be cut . I think the leak happened because the pipes were real damn cold when we installed them and the heat loosened some of them to almost hand tight . If I'm in this situation again , I think I'll use lampwick instead of teflon . Good luck on the install Dave .

Dave Palmer_3

Ron.........

what makes it easier?can you swing the last fitting into place?

Steamhead

I've only done one

and here it is. Yes, the piping was much much easier. I'm going to do all my headers this way from now on.

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Unknown

The extra swing joints make it easier. Without those, you MUST meet the header at EXACTLY ninety degrees, to meet the elbow or tee in the header. The header length between risers is critical to enable this.

With the extra swing joints, you meet the header at whatever angle it takes. The forces through that 90° connection are completely eliminated. The two risers and offsets are MUCH easier to connect.

I, too, like unions on the risers instead of in the header, including the equalizer.

Noel

Dave Palmer_3

is it

because you can swing the risers together?

Dave Palmer_3

.

then do you have to force it around to make it look straight?I'm missing something, thanks "slow dave"

Unknown

Exactly

I always hated trying to get the last nipple the correct size to join the 2 header pipes together . And trying to mate the union was always a chore . The only thing different I would have done with this job , besides adding another union on the front pipe , was install another swing joint where that elbow is on the back boiler riser . But the long pipe lined up perfectly as is .

Unknown

It's not so much about the elbows

It's about measuring and cutting and wrenching the header piece itself and getting it EXACTLY the same center to center measurement as the boiler outlet tappings themselves.

If it turns out a quarter inch off after tightening all of the fittings, it doesen't matter, Dave. The swing joints compensate.

The time saved is there. The ease of it is having the ability to swing those risers to make up that 1/4" if you need to. The beauty of it is the dry steam it creates and the complete removal of the stresses of a "90° only" fitting on the header.

Noel

Unknown

And if youre off by 1/2 inch

more or less , it doesn't throw off the straightness of the pipe that you can see . Believe me , it happens all the time on my headers .

Mad Dog

Ok..the famous drop-header...here ya go

This drop-header thing is becoming an obession, heh? Gott alove that. The Lost Art is alive and well!! Mad Dog