DRIP LINES

John Lasky

good morning,

thanks for all the continued help! well my one problem steam baseboard is still a problem. I have 5 seperate base boards, 4 are quiet and hot, but this one problem unit is hot, wet and very noisy.

as mentioned this baseboard is the second horizontal run out off the main ,its dry for awhile then lots of condensate appears and stays once things start getting hot

The baseboard and wet return both have good pitch and are not clogged.

I re piped the the end of the horizontal runout thus removing 2 elbows before it goes into the baseboard riser but to no avail. once things started heating up I could hear water sloshing in the end of the runout and squirting into the baseboard.(my pipes are insulated)

Now I did notice for the first time last night an old pipe that "Ts" into this horizontal runout . the old pipe is a 1 1/4" diam thats 20" long and is capped but also pithces the wrong way and is not insulated. it sits at about 7' from the main .

Is this where I could be creating so much condensate?

Im going to re pipe the entire horizontal runout tonight , its only 11' feet long , that will get rid of the mysterious old pipe. hopefully this will solve problem

if the above doesnt work , MY DRIP question.

1) Is it feasable to install a drip line just in front of the riser to baseboard?

2) I cant drop to the floor right away as the wet return is on the other side of house , but I can stay a few inches below the steam line and bring condensate back to the boiler where I can T into the wet return just in front of the H Loop (thats where the return for this baseboard is anyway).

3)Will the above work? or perhaps Ill need a trap??

sorry to be so long winded.

any wisdom will be welcome .

have a great day "John"

Jack Ennis Martin

The Lost Art of Steam Heating

Hello
In Dans book he writes quite a bit about end of main air eliminators -- could this pipe be for that purpose? Before you get all dirty and oily repiping send in a picture of the installation and I am sure someone has seen it before.

Jack Ennis Martin

Drip lines

John I have just reread your problem and it would seem to me that you are pulling a vacumn in this particlar rad. Steam when it condenses shrinks in volume back to water to the tune of 2600 times its former volume in steam. Nature abhors a vacumn and it will always try to fill the vacumn any way it can and if thats condensate so be it. Juat try something for the heck of it -- the line you are talking about has to have a cap or plug correct? Cool the system so you won't get burnt and undo the connection so air can now enter the pipe and start the sytem up again and see if the rad that is giving you the problem starts to get hot and stays "dry". If so you have found your problem as Dan outlines it in " The Lost Art of Steam Heating" if not well it is back to the drawing board. Good Luck and be careful steam burns are no fun that's from apinful experience.
Jack Ennis Martin

John Lasky

thank you much

Thanks for the help.

looks like my re pipe did the trick, it wasnt a hard job as it was one single 9' piece of 1 1/4. the 20" pipe that was T'ed into the run out must of fed a rad in years past as there was a hole in floor right above it.

after the re pipe , which removed the suspicious pipe the baseboard was pretty quiet except for a second or two of gurgling when the baseboard was heated half way across then it went quiet again and stayed quiet all the time the flame was on.

this baseboard would gurgle and slosh water the whole burner cycle and it was loud!!

looks like its all set,

have a great day "John"