system flushing

Campo

I am working on an old 2-pipe air vent system for my landlord. We were experiencing some uneven heating, and after reading Dan's book, we diecided to install end-of-main air vents and lower the pressure. When the plumber cut the pipes to install the vents, he encountered standing water in the steam lines. We have since found out that many of the drips were clogged and have replaced them. I also flushed the wet returns (nasty!).

Now for my question. I would like to flush the steam mains. I know the system flooded last year and I am sure that there is lots of junk in the lines. Is it OK to let this end up in the boiler and/or how do I prevent this. Or should I let if flow to the boiler and then blow it down? One interesting point: even though there was standing water, the building never experienced water hammer.

Thanks for the advice,

Campo

dave connors

water hammer

occurs when the pipe fills completely with water then is pushed by the steam like a hammer. and BANG

Steamhead

I'd flush that system

from top to bottom, including the steam mains.

You don't want all that junk to get into the boiler. Disconnect the returns before they go into the boiler and let the gunk run out. Then flush out the boiler too. This will give you a nice clean system.