supply piping

STEVEN MARKS

I am converting a gravity hot water system. The existing has 2 - 3" supply's and returns from boiler. From what I read a rule of thumb is to divde by half and then drop 1 size. This equals 1-1/4" Correct?
I assume that the entire supply header will 1-1/4". Correct?

I have done a heat loss on the house to resize the boiler.

I am removing the existing Taco 007 pump from the packaged boiler and installing a Taco 110 for proper flow based the amount of radiation in the house. About 1,000 sq ft
The pump will be installed in the supply header

Am I on the right track?

Dave_29

\"The Lost Art\" and the \"plumbing consultant\" don't agree.

"The Lost Art" and the "plumbing consultant" don't agree on the size for runners to new radiators in an addition we added.

We just built an addition onto our house. The first floor has a largish (54 EDR) Burnham (?) in-wall convection radiator. The 2nd floor has a similar, 40.5 EDR radiator.

The 2" main feeding the runners for both is long - about 36 feet (the length of the basement), and is 1 of 3 loops off the boiler ( a 1 year old Burnham). The runner for the 1st floor radiator is then another 15 feet. The 2nd floor has a 2 foot runner, then the riser, and then another 12 foot runner. ALL of the new piping is 1". I think the pressuretrol has a cut-out of 1.5 and cut-in of about 0.5

The charts on page 89 of The Lost Art indicate that the runners should be at least 1.25", if not 1.5". The plumber's consultant (who I think is a rep for the radiator supply house) thinks that they are "plenty big for low pressure steam", and that the problem is that the far end of the main needs to be vented.

What problem? - It's mostly difficulty getting the system balanced. The new rooms are either too hot, or too cold, depending on how warm it is outside. There is also a lot "gurgling" sounds coming from the system as a whole that did not exist before the addition. And lastly, mild banging in the middle of the night (from exactly where I am not sure).

The consultant thinks there is no reason to change the runners because he did not hear any noises when he tuned up the thermostat. I want them changed because I don't want noises later.

The plumber is a very generous and friendly guy who knows more about steam heat than many, and wants to do the right thing. But he has his supplier saying one thing and his customer saying another.

The way things stand now, I have agreed to have them add a vent to the far end of the main and fix a few other oddly plumbed sections of that part of the main (removing a gate valve for instance), and then see how things go.

Any suggestions about what, if anything, I should do? Thanks for reading my (long) post.

Thanks

Dave in Boston

kevin coppinger_4

that's a good start...

are you figuring a bypass or a primary/secondary set up for the piping to protect your boiler? kpc

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STEVEN MARKS

gas pilot

Does anyone know how many btu's are in a typical natural gas pilot for a residential boiler?

Boilerpro_3

0010 sounds too big

Remember there is almost no pressure drop on these systems. Take a look at the information at this site about gravity conversions and pump sizing by Frank "Steamhead" Wilsey.

Boilerpro