1 pipe modulation

hvacfreak

Question... Do you think it is possible ( or practical )to " modulate " 1 pipe steam. In another thread about zoning 1 pipe , I mentioned this and thought it may be something interesting to discuss.

Understand , I'm not talking on/off control , I'm talking modulating temperatures ( at least to a point ). Computers , 0-10 volt DC , 4-20 MA...lets get this stuff into the 21'st century ...I'm sick to death of antique air vents and T-87's , there has to be a better way for some of this stuff ( at least control ).

Here's what we know...we need to control single pipe steam from the air vent side of the radiator. We also will need a minimum setting ( at the rads )to achieve anything ( If we fill the mains with steam we need to make use of it..and maintain a run-time on different burners ). We also know that we can have different conditions in the branch lines ( to a point ) than we have in the mains.

Could we energize a vacume pump ( pressure switch ) before each burner firing to eliminate the need for a traditional main vent ? We would need a filter for this I'm sure ( and check valve rad vents ) . Again , not original , but I feel we're just doing things out of " convienence " ( it is what things went to when oil and gas became the norm ).

Any other modern ideas on one pipe steam ? Am I the only one who thinks that there " HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY " ? discuss- hvacf

Steamhead (in transit)

Your quote

"we need to control single pipe steam from the air vent side of the radiator"........

That's already been done- it's called an "air-line" setup. A steam-powered ejector pulled the air from the system. The most prevalent system of this type was the Paul system, but Eddy and others marketed their versions too.

Our friend Noel Murdough, now with Slant/Fin, used to manage a whole college campus full of Vapor systems, though these didn't pull a vacuum. Each one was tied into a remote building-management system. I don't remember exactly how it worked, but I'm sure it included some sort of reset. This would probably work with one-pipe too, either with standard vents or with an air-line/vacuum pump setup.

Calling Noel.... calling Noel.....

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hvacfreak

Danfoss zone control

I was thinking about these ...not really pulling a vacume from here. Main vents only vent air from the mains...could we valve the branch run-outs .. ( my vacume pump idea would pull from branch lines , only thinking vacume to 0 absolute ).

But how about the modulation ...based on venting air from a radiator. The vacume thing was kind of a " tangent " ...and we would need positive pressure ...come to think of it. Just thinking out loud.- Mike

Steamhead (in transit)

You could modulate

the amount of vacuum. The Dunham Vari-Vac system did exactly that, on command of an outdoor-reset controller.

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hvacfreak

hotter , faster...

but how about " only as hot as we need ".

hvacfreak

I get it now...

I love my iron rads when they're up to temperature..I like to heat boots , cover-alls , ( my bbehind...ouch )....the questions I'm posing my be answered in the plug at the other end of the radiator ( like removing it for the purpose of converting to water ).