Do I need traps? 2 pipe baseboard

John Lasky

hello again,

as mentioned in my other posts many thanks for all the help.

my system at home is working pretty darn good now and I have one more question.

should I be using traps on the 2 pipe part of my system??

My upstairs is all one pipe radiators.

my downstairs however is a 2 pipe all cast iron Burnham "Base ray" baseboards. my shortest base board is 3' and the longest are 15'.

all the baseboards go to a wet return as I now know there is not enough height in my cellar for a dry return.

the baseboards are "VENTED" rather than having traps on the end of the units or the return lines.

when I first bought the house I replaced 3 of the baseboard sections , I explained my system to the gent at the plumbing supply house (hes a lic plumber, older fellow)he asked where my boiler was located in the house and then asked if the return was near the floor or in the air, I told him it was near the floor(wet return)and he said,

"Your Ok, that old bastered (affectionatly) that old basterd knew what he was doing! so just replace the baseboards and install new vents".

So is my two pipe system ok (basebaods not rads) or should I install traps? seems like my system is an oddball, or was it installed wrong many years ago?? everyone I talk to looks funny at me when I says its vented rather than traps but then they say HMM I dont know since its baseboads not rads.

IF I need to use traps they would be a bear to install unless I could install them in the basement on the return lines as there is no room at the baseboards at floor level my piping is to close and tight.

many thanks again.

John

John Lasky

I found the answer

I found one of Dans articles online and looks like im good.

steam baseboard should be vented on the outlet and dripped to a wet return.

Cool!! many thanks .


"John"