Steam System water usage

Brian Stack_2

Does anyone have or know where to find a good document on "normal" water usage for a two pipe steam system. I explained water will need to be replaced from routine flushing of controls, but the customer would like something in writing as to what they should expect as far a water usage in this small commercial building.

Thanks for the help
Brian

Kevinj

Water

I find that the useage is unique to each system. In a perfect world it would be blow down only. I record the water meter before and after each blow down to establish the monthly useage for blowdown and then access the water usage from there and use it as a tool to determine how tight the system is. There are to many varibals to put it in writing. Maybe one of the experts can help a bit more.

Unknown

Nope, that's perfect.

Nothing else to say. Anything beyond what you blow down is a leak. It will pay for itself in fuel alone to fix it. It'll harm the system if you don't.

Noel

Boiler Guy

Water useage

Do I understand correctly? No usage other than metered blowdown? Will there not be some loss due to evaporation through vents, traps etc?

Unknown

Traps empty into the return

Vents shut on steam.

No water should be lost. To lose a pint of water, 1700 pints of steam would have to blow out of the leak. A pint wouldn't make the water meter spin much, but I think you would notice that much steam in the room.

No, water disappearing indicates a WATER leak, usually in the returns, or a steam leak into the boiler, which goes up the chimney. Anything else, and the customer would be pretty alarmed at all of the steam.

Noel

DanHolohan

Unless

the vent is in a crawl space.

Kevinj

water loss

You also have the situation of vented pumps and recievers on commercial. I have one 500,00 btu boiler in a church with rotted underfloor return which now has 3 return pumps due to the elevations in the building. It uses about a gallon a week over blowdown due some leaky traps. Two years ago this building used about 200 gallons a week !!!!

subaru400

So the meter is only there to measure leaks?

KC_Jones

The meter is there to monitor water usage. Water usage on a steam boiler should be minimal. If you have a specific question I suggest you start a new thread instead of commenting on one that is 10 years old.

vaporvac

To answer your question, as KC says , it's there to monitor water usage. Usually it's associated with an automatic fill which is only for emergencies. (What's wrong with asking an additional question to gain knowledge? the question is pertinent even if the thread is old. Is there some rule I don't know about?)

KC_Jones

Not a rule, but typically will get better responses if it's a new thread. People will look at that date and ignore.