Steam Trap Type Good or Bad

Steamhead (in transit)

but the original design used the balls, so it can't hurt to put them back in. Betcha they fell out when the rads were removed for painting, floor refinishing etc.

Bob Schultz

Steam trap type good or bad

I recently moved into a different house. It has a steam boiler. My old house had one too but the radiators had the bucket type steam trap. In my new house it has this right angle type trap. Go here for picture.
http://home.stny.rr.com/theschmits/steamtrap.JPG

My question is, I have read on your website that steam trap maintenance is important. This one seems to be not quite a trap but more of a partial block. Should I replace these traps with bucket type steam traps? Can this type go bad? Are these sufficient? I have a 2 pipe system, the main steam pipe branches off into 3 pipes and I have 4 return branches coming into the return line with vents at the top, before it heads down to the main return pipe. Thanks for any help,
Ted

Steamhead (in transit)

That's not a trap

it's a water-seal return elbow. You have an "O-E" Vapor System.

That water seal has no moving parts and should outlast all of us. No need to replace these with thermostatic traps (the ones that look like buckets). But if you add onto the house and heat the addition with steam, you would have to use traps on the rads since the O-E elbows are no longer made.

See chapter 15 of "The Lost Art of Steam Heating" for a discussion of the O-E system. If you don't have it, order your copy on the Books and More page of this site.

Bob Schultz

Thanks

Thanks for the education!! Now I understand how the thing works.

Bob Schultz

OE Water Seal elbow-BALL?

I found an radiatior that had been taken out of service and it still had the OE water seal elbow on it but this one had a steel ball in it. There are 4 ribs that sort of support it. Of the 3 that I did take off and reinstall that were in use none of them had this ball but they did have the ribs. Are these balls required for the water seal to work correctly? If so any idea where I could find replacement balls? Thanks for your help.
Ted

Steamhead (in transit)

The ball

acted as a check valve to keep any steam in the dry return from entering the radiator thru the elbow. I would assume a steel ball of comparable size would work.

Bob Schultz

Are the balls important in my OE system?

Thanks steam head for your fast reply. I tested it by blowing and found exactly that, I would only let the air go down and not up. So the water elbow should still work fine keeping the steam in the radiator without the ball. Am I losing any efficiency in my OE system by not having the check balls in the elbows??? Is it worth my time to ad these balls?

Bob Schultz

That's what I thought

I bet that's how they were lost too. I guess it can't hurt to replace the balls since that was the original design. I measured them out at like 9/16" diameter and found a group of 10 on ebay shipped for $12 so I ordered them and will put them in when they arrive. With the gas prices being so high I want to do anything I can do to make the boiler work as good as it can. I do want to thank you for the time you put into this website. I have learned so much in such a short time. My next project is going to be to replace the main condensation pipe, 2" pipe, related T's and the lower returns (1 1/4 and 1 1/2) into those t's. It is dripping in a couple of locations. I think it is going to be a bear of a project. I will probably wait until spring for that project. Anyway thanks again,
Ted
Binghamton, NY