Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

Trap or strainer?

Mike_Sheppard
Mike_Sheppard Member Posts: 696
edited January 2019 in THE MAIN WALL
Is this a steam trap or a strainer? It’s on the condensate return just before the feedwater tank. Never seen one like it.

If it’s a trap it’s coming out!
Never stop learning.
Erin Holohan Haskell

Comments

  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,276
    Photo?
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
  • Mike_Sheppard
    Mike_Sheppard Member Posts: 696
    > @Erin Holohan Haskell said:
    > Photo?

    A photo might help a little... my bad!

    Photo added to main post
    Never stop learning.
    Erin Holohan Haskell
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,170
    Looks an awful lot like a strainer to me... complete with a little drain port to allow flushing out the collected goop.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Mike_Sheppard
    Mike_Sheppard Member Posts: 696
    @Jamie Hall that’s what I am thinking. But I am not 99% sure. Perhaps I will just take it apart. If it’s a strainer it probably needs to be cleaned and if it’s a master trap it needs to be removed.
    Never stop learning.
  • Mike_Sheppard
    Mike_Sheppard Member Posts: 696
    edited January 2019
    Someone I know mentioned this may have been a strainer on a vacuum system, and something may have been connected to the top.

    Now I’m wondering if it used to be a vacuum system. Is there a way to tell other than counting the EDR and comparing supply/return pipe sizes?

    Has anyone ever re-installed a vacuum pump system before?

    Edit: Building was built in 1917. Could it have had a mechanical vacuum system?
    Never stop learning.
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,455
    looks strainerishto me