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Steam pressure; always amazed folks set it high

wcs5050
wcs5050 Member Posts: 148
IMG_8945.jpeg

Love to hear some takes on this pressure setting. I like 1.5-2psi with 1psi diff.
The house is probably 1500 square feet. 5 year old Burn PIN done completely with propress copper. Owner says they got it done for a “great price”.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 26,218

    Pressure setting is way too high. That particular pressuretrol can be set all the way down to a bit below 2 psig, with a 1 psig differential — which is the best they'll be able to do.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Long Beach Ed
  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,734

    If it’s a one pipe system, 2 psi ; if it’s a two pipe system, then it may be less than 1 psi.

    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 7,786

    It's not really a setting, it's a limit. How high is the actual pressure while the system is running?

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 13,672

    people with bad vents set it high, the pressure compresses the air that can't get out and some steam gets in and the parts without venting sort of heat some.

  • Long Beach Ed
    Long Beach Ed Member Posts: 1,798
    edited June 17

    Simply poor practice, like piping a steam header with copper Pro-press.

    They didn't know better, couldn't be bothered finding out the proper setting, or as Mattmia suggested, it was the only way they could heat some radiators without taking tools outside the boiler room.

  • jumper
    jumper Member Posts: 2,466

    People who ought to know better think that steam "blows" condensate through trap.