Bull headed tees and steam

Unknown

to fix what was not piped right . It's much easier to do it to spec now instead of later . I might have gone a liitle overboard with the height of the boiler riser before it drops , but it worked out great - no bangs , no surging while we were there yesterday and while we finished there today ( added some heat in a bathroom , changed all the vents , skimmed ) . We added new main vents because they never had any , and dropped the dry returns to the floor before they connected to the Loop . We went as far as we could with the steel piping before we transitioned to copper . The 2nd pic shows Kennys artistry on the return piping , and Pauls coil piping for the air handler on the 2nd floor .

Unknown

This one we started yesterday

The boiler was a Delco , big and nasty . The mains were teed together into a bull head tee right at the celing . And both mains were a very odd sized 1 1/2 inch . Both dry returns teed together in another bull head configuration way higher than the boiler . I have to say all the steam piping looked real nice and straight . If I didn't know any beeter I woulda thought this was a gravity system . But .... someone connected an air handler coil to the existing steam coil . The homeowner said it never worked right for his 2nd floor .

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Egad!

Even a steam dummy like me knows you don't pipe a steam system like a gravity conversion! Your replacement is artistry in black iron as usual!

Brad White_36

Lucky Owners

Outstanding work, Ron!

"might have gone a little overboard..." you say, but you are only going to do it once and it was done right.

The owners will know quiet, comfort and efficiency like they never have. Good night to check it out if it is as windy as it is here in Boston.

Mike Cascio

What gives with the hoffman 4a at the end of the dry return. Is that the main vent?

Michael J. Cascio

Unknown

And the problem is ??????

The 4A is a main vent . The 4A is used on small steam mains , and this house had 2 short 1 1/2 inch steam mains .

Where , exactly , do you see a problem ?

Unknown

Thanks Mike

I know around here almost anyone else would've just connected to the piping as it was . But we know by experience that steam is unforgiving . Do it right and the system purrs like a kitten . Do it wrong and you got Neanderthals slamming the pipes with boulders .

Unknown

Up to the task

We had the system running while we added some Multipak to the bathroom . We let it run long to check for steam leaks at the radiator valves . It brought up the temp 5 degrees in less than an hour on a 30 degree day . Not too shabby . Thank you Brad for the kind words .

soot_seeker_2

As always...

... your work is a joy to see.

Why do you like the 4A's for short mains? I know they close faster than the Gortons, and are of great quality, but they are s l o w. Have you had any problems with faster ones on tiny systems, or are you just having fun?

Beautiful work. Even the coil piping is pretty.

Long Beach Ed

Anthony Menafro

Water supply

Hey Ron,
Why is the water piped directly into the boiler instead of into the return piping? I don't mean to knock such a beautiful job, I'm just wondering if it makes any difference.

Thanks, Anthony Menafro

David Sutton_6

Ron Jr...

You da man.. nice looking pipe job..I love dem drop heada's. What kinda btu out are getting from the coil?
..David....PS we still gonna get together and do a steamer this summer? i'll take the ride down. Start to finish

Unknown

The boiler feed

We've been piping the water feed directly into the block since I started in the biz . No problems so far . And since this had 2 dry returns , there really isn't much return water to blend the makeup water into . To tell you the truth , out of hundreds of steamer replacements , very very rarely do we see the feed piped into the return .

Thanks alot for the question and remarks Anthony .

Unknown

Well ....

the choice of vents is out of my hands , I'm just a simple worker ant . We use what the supply house stocks , and Hoffman is their choice . For these small main runs the 4A is more than adequate . Thank you very much Ed .

Unknown

Hey Dave

You serious ? Normally I don't know what I'm installing till that day , but give me a window of time and I'll see if there's a steamer in the works . Working side by side with you would be amazing . Hey , maybe we can get a collaboration steamer for Oil Heat Cares .

The coil was a 5 gpm , not sure how that trranslates to btus . I do know that while the boiler was steaming the coil stayed at a steady 180 without any mixer piped in .

Thanks alot Dave and let me know if you really want to do this .

David Sutton_6

Yes i am

The oil cares idea sounds great!! as summer gets closer well start looking into this! working with you will be a real learning sesson for me!...David...PS i use the #4 vents too there i said it and proud of it LOL;)

soot_seeker_2

The Hoffman Vents...

...also last at least 80 years...

And it's likely that nobody will be looking at them before that anyway.

Ed