Vitodens Check After First Heating Season

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Installed in an old (c. 1922) gravity conversion system without low-loss header and using only the internal circulator.

Just opened the wye strainer connected to the return line--after finding the HX less-than-spotless was rather curious.

Nothing--nada. Not worth posting a photo as you'd just say it was a new strainer. Since flow and velocity are so slow in the 3" main pairs and they reduce down with horizontally installed concentric bushings near the boiler, figured there was no way for anything of any size to make it's way to the boiler. Seems to be correct.

So, if you're installing a Vitodens on an old gravity conversion and you have TRVs on ALL of the radiators, don't worry about debris if you don't use the low-loss header. I would still install a return-line wye strainer as very cheap insurance and ensure that you pipe down the mains using regular (concentric) bushings while they're horizontal.