Cleaning the Boiler?

Unknown

why they would want the skim piping temporary . We used to put a ball valve out of every skim port and plug it after use . Now we just use a 1 1/2 by 6 inch nipple , a reducing ell , another nipple and cap .

John Van Hoesen

Surface Blow Off Piping Question...

Hi all -

About to clean my Burnham V86 boiler... my thought was to put a 6" 1 1/2 nipple out the surface blow off connection, install a 1 1/2" brass gate valve, a downturned street 90 and then a 10" nipple. After reading through the Burnham guidelines, it states NOT to put a valve in this connection, to keep it temporary.

How come? Seem silly that if this is something you might routinely do to keep the boiler clean, that you wouldn't want it temporary and gate valve would make it easy to do the cleaning. HOWEVER, that's why I'm here, because when you assume... well you know.

Any thoughts? Thanks!!!

J~

Unknown

John

It is all about liability John. There have been folks out there that have left a nipple, elbow and valve for convenience in skimming steam boilers but have neither plugged nor capped those valves connections. All it takes is a curious child or a homeowner that is not knowledgable to the skim port to open that valve and get a face full of steam. There is an installation company that is no longer in business do to this actually occuring. I hope this explains our stance in the I&O manual and that you know know the real reasons. Hope this helps.



Glenn Stanton

Manager of Training

Burnham Hydronics

U.S. Boiler Co., Inc.

patrick linhardt

suspect the lawyers

Hi John,

When good logic is contradicted by bad instructions, suspect the lawyers. What you want to do is a good, logical thing for a low pressure steam boiler. However, for good safety, perhaps a cap at the end of that nipple so that someone un-familiar with the operation of the boiler doesn't come along and open the valve while it is under pressure. Sure it is turned down, but it still could cause an accident.

Glad to see that you are concerned with boiler surface blow-down or skimming. A clean waterline produces the driest steam, which we should all know heats the best, and doesn't cause system problems.

Thanks for asking and sharing!

Best regards, Pat

Steve Garson

Another idea that I've done is to remove the handle of the valve in addition to a cap. Just to be safe.

John Van Hoesen

Thanks SO much...

Perfectly understandable Glenn... I'll make sure I put a cap on the end of the nipple. I also label the heck out of everything, so there will be a nice white Avery sticker on the drain nipple explaining what it is.

Good to know I wasn't thinking about doing something stupid. I think I'll use a gate valve rather than a ball valve though, just so I don't constrict it all when skimming and risk the chance of overflow into the pipes.

Thanks again for the great comments!

cheers
John

Constantin

I'd use a full-port ball valve...

... unlike a gate valve, it opens and closes quickly (¼ turn), offers virtually no flow resistance or turbulence when open, and is IMO less likely to leak.