FWL & the A dimension?

Jamie_6

Thank God for patient customers!

We installed a steam boiler around Thanksgiving and we are having a few problems with it. I'll explain some of the stuff we did. It is a two pipe steam system with ½” returns and vented radiators. A hybrid of some sort between two and 1 pipe steam!

• We added two Gordon #2’s to the steam main.

• We added all new Gordon Steam radiator vents.

• We installed a Peerless boiler with a drop header.

• Had to fix one steam leak and one return leak.

• And we had to add a false water line so we had the return wet two where it needed to be.

This was our first FWL job and we did make a few mistakes which we corrected. I.E. - The U seal in the FWL was 6” when we installed it and it needed to be a close nipple. We changed that.

The PROBLEM is this system is HAMMERING & short cycling??????
The last possible thing I can come up with is the A dimension!!!!!!!!

Does the A dimension have to carry over to the FWL? That is at the FWL? Where the equalizer drops down you have to put a tee. At this tee you go up over and down to where the FWL ties in to the wet side of the return. Should that rise coincide with the A DIMENSION?


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Jamie_6

Any ideas guys?

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Steamhead

Which line is which, Jamie?

I can see the steam main leaving the drop header, and the red equalizing line to the FWL. Is the blue line the return that you want to keep wet thru the use of the FWL? And what's the vertical black line all the way to the right?

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Jamie_6

Yes, the blue line is the wet return. And the black vertical line has an air vent (hoffman #4A) on top of it. This is the way the steam school book said to pipe it.

Jamie

Sorry I should have labeled the colors.

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Steamhead

I think I see the trouble

The blue return line should pop up instead of dropping into the FWL piping. As of now there's almost no water seal there, depending on where the boiler's waterline is. So the steam can enter the dry return and head for the 4A vent. See the diagram on page 28 of Lost Art and compare it to what you posted here.

You want the blue line to pop up just enough to keep the return wet thru its entire length. I don't know if that will give you a 4-foot-deep seal, but if it's equalized properly you should be OK.

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