Thanks Rod / Near boiler piping

New Boiler Piping

Hi- Looking good! The header looks good and should be producing nice dry steam. Having dry steam really ups the efficiency of your system. With the new piping you're probably going to have to skim the boiler if you haven't done so already.



 As for the equalizer, well, LOL...the word, "creative" might be considered an understatement!   I guess the real question is: How well is it working?  As I remember we originally were going to put the Hartford loop and equalizer on the header end of the boiler.  I tend to think it might be better if the equalizer piping sloped all the way from the header to above the Hartford Loop. The "Up Loop" kind of has me "spooked" as I'm not sure how that really affects the equation.   I can't tell from the picture but I think you could turn the elbow on the end of the header to the 45 degree down angle (or what ever you need) and slope the pipe towards the other end of the boiler  and then a 90 around the corner of the boiler to a 45 (or two 90s together- close nipple between) off the top of the Hartford loop. That way you'd have continuous flow (slope) all the way from the header to the Hartford Loop. As it seems now the "Up Loop" sort of works like a trap and what the affect might be of that I have no idea.   I've attached a picture of a radically sloped equalizer pipe so you can see what is possible.



 It also might be an idea to install some pipe hangers to support the header and riser piping so that the hangers would take any weight / strain off the boiler/riser piping.



Once you are happy with your piping, you may want to consider adding insulation. Here's a a good link on insulation that was done by Crash http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/137178/Insulation   I didn't insulate my headers for several years and was surprised at the noticeable difference it made when I finally did so.

Again - Nice Job!

- Rod

"Up Loop"

Hi- As I understand it the big thing (other than adequate pipe size) with the equalizer pipe is that in the way it is installed,  it quickly removes the water from the header and doesn't have any place where water can pool (collect) especially at the end of the header. Cooler pools of condensate (water) encourages the steam in the header pipe to collapse which  results in disturbing the steam flow and creates noise ("Banging")   While the ideal way to get water out of the header is to drop it straight down, it would seem that if the condensate is quickly ducted away, it should work okay.  I'm more concerned with the "uploop" at the bottom causing a problem. You might just let it run for a while and see if any problems develop .The "Up Loop" also seems like it would collect dirt etc. and that might cause a problem down the line.

- Rod

Looking Good!

Hi- That looks a lot better as it has much better slope/ flow.   Adding  insulation will really make a difference. When I finally got  around to insulating my near boiler piping I was surprised how much of a difference insulating just that small amount of piping  made even though my steam mains were already well insulated. if you haven't seen it already here is a very good link on insulation by "Crash" one of the Wall members.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/137178/Insulation#p1236446

Edit: LOL... I'm getting fuzzy in my old age! Just noticed that i already posted this link to you!

- Rod