Should I Repipe ?

Bob W._3

Hard to see how that back riser is piped. Looks like it goes into the 2nd Tee off the header, which would make the 1st T bullheaded. Any thoughts?

USA498

Should I Repipe

I Have purchased a 1909 craftsman house with single pipe steam. My question relates to the installation of the current boiler (peerless). It appears that the installer used copper for the riser and manifold and reused the old manifold as well. Would a repiping help with the efficency of the system ? Many thanks for your replies

Constantin

Hmmmm....

I'm just a homeowner myself, but the copper used in the header combined with the very small diameter of the tubing they used makes me suspect that this system is not operating up to expectations. Just look at the size difference between the old part of the header and the new part...

Have you tried "Find a Pro" yet? It may be worth a shot to get a real steam expert to go over the whole system, not just the boiler and the near-boiler piping.

Weezbo

from the picture ...

i see agreat burner and i see the wrong heat and the likely hood of the stack being partialy blocked and the draft being affected... i would start there if you are interested in some greater efficentcy...the piping looks to be in copper ,while that may work you might like some of the "side effects" of using iron.

next time the boiler fires put your hand on the bottom of the vent pipe where it is running into the chimney..if it is real cool or hardly changes at all there is alot of soot built up and laying in there ...*~/:)

USA498

More Pictures

Here are some close up images. I think a re-pipe wih black pipe and possibly a nice drop header would be great. I would remove the old manifold and repipe to the old main risers using 2 1/2" to 3" pipe. Any Comments would be great! ( I am afraid I have become a steam junkie ).

Bob W._3

From those new pictures it appears that one riser off the boiler goes to the other and then around to the old header. I thought there was a bullheaded T but apparently not. Looks like you have at least 24" height from the water line. If it were my system I would just install new CI risers, blow them up to 3" like you said, and connect to that old header. The real question is how does the system work? If the steam is dry and it works well, the only concern would be the copper over time.

Steamhead (in transit)

Looks like the dry returns

are wyed together above the boiler's water line. This can allow steam to flow from one to the other and possibly bang. They should be dropped below the waterline before coming together.

Does this system have main vents?

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USA498

Main Vents

Thanks for the reply steamhead.

The two main vents are gorton #2. The mains heat up pretty quickly.

It was rather funny the other day when my local heating repair man was in the basement and I pointed out the gorton vents and he said " Wow, I have never seen anything like that before"

Anthony Menafro

Hartford loop

Looks like there's no Hartford loop on this boiler. As someone mentioned, all of the return piping comes together above the water line which can cause many noisy problems. A nice drop header would do you well.

Anthony Menafro