Burnham boiler question

Really????   You are looking at a commercial boiler that will never be anything like it in your home and asking about the type of pipes I illustrated to show you what type of tee fitting you asked about that you will never use and that is the reason you made a post asking about it?  

If I knew that you look at everything so literally that I need to be very careful to be precise to the exact detail in order to make a point without you getting side tracked on something that you have no need to know.  

I personally like to understand the reason why someone says something or prints something in  an instruction manual.  But you are taking this to an extreme that is farther than I have ever needed to go.  This illustration was a concept drawing not a precise engineering detail for you to follow (that you would not need to ever follow on your steam boiler).    The  point I made when I posted this particular illustration was to answer your query about the type of tee you might use in order to prevent bridging.  I also said that this does not apply to you because you will not be using a tee fitting at all in your situation.   

In the future I will try to make my drawings more accurate for you so there is no question about what piping material you might want to use on your next commercial boiler installation. 

Here is something that you may need to see for that next commercial boiler you install in your home:

Does this answer your query about the type of piping you will use on the commercial boiler you will be installing?  It has iron pipes and I used actual pictures from the catalogue of pipe fittings and pipe nipples  I did not use the LWCO photo because I would hope that you understand that the LWCO location would be on the Tee Branch like I illustrated in my concept drawing.

You asked "I was asking weather the joints of he pipes with elbows, and the pipes with the T (in that U shape assembly) are lead hubbed or tapped threaded. it's all hubbed, or at least hubbed where the two elbows tie to the two horizontal pipes (the other 5 connections can be threaded), right?" WRONG

What does it matter? You are not using any of this on your boiler.  I would forget the stuff that does not matter and concentrate on the stuff that does matter.  Have you read the book yet? Do you know more about the steam boiler that you have?

I was wondering about the water in the pipes, Did you get it all out? When is the gas company going to be ready to turn on your gas? Have you had time to do the maintenance that is recommended since the boiler is now empty of water? did you check the condition of the probe? Is the pigtail that connects the pressure control to the boiler clear? What lkind of pipe joint compound are you going to use to connect the pipes and fittings you remove to do the service work when you put it back together? by the way does the door bell work? Do you even have a door bell? What color is your mail box? Are there any letters in the mail box? Are they all junk mail?

Just wanted to continue with the unrelated questions about the new home.

@paulga queried: "when you say wrong, do you mean all 7 connections (each elbow has 2, T has 3) can be tapped threads?"

Actually there are 11, you need a union to put that all together, and every pipe has 2 ends that are threaded. Two pipe to boiler, four pipe to elbow, two pipe to union and three pipe to tee. (I can nitpick too LOL)

Every pipe on a steam boiler is threaded using NPT standard fittings an pipe nipples. I don't know of any better way to do that. Copper, sweat, ProPress, mega Press, hub, compression, flare and just about any other pipe connection is a sign that the installer/pipe fitter is not an experienced steam fitter.

I have seen copper on wet returns and I find that acceptable, but anywhere there is steam, it should be steel or iron pipe and fittings.

Does your steam boiler have copper tubing and fittings anywhere past the water feed system? All steam pipes should be steel or iron pipe/fittings.

But you missed the important stuff… about the mail box!

Vacation mode = set thermostat lower.

It is that simple

Your boiler will short cycle regardless of the temperature you set at the thermostat. It all has to do with oversizing. The funny thing about steam is that the steam does not follow the heat loss of the home. The steam follows the connected radiation. If you have 500 sq feet of radiation and the boiler is oversized by say 500 Sq feet for a total Net output of 1000 sq feet, then once the boiler fills with steam and the mains fill with steam and all the radiators fill with steam, the pressure will increase.  If the pressure goes above the cut out pressure the burner will stop. Once the pressure drops to the cut in pressure the burner will start. This cycle will continue until the thermostat is satisfied.   

What does follow the heat loss of the building is the heat that leaves the radiators.  If the thermostat is set 40° above the outdoor temperature then the heat from the radiators will take a given amount of time to make the home reach that temperature.  That means that if it is 30° outside and you set the thermostat to 70°  your boiler will operate the same as if the outdoor temperature was 10° and you set the thermostat for 50° The short cycle will be identical in both cases.  Where you get the energy savings is having only a 20° temperature difference when it is 30° outside and the thermostat is set for 50°       The call for heat will happen less often.  

I am not sure that your boiler is actually oversized by 100%, it could be oversized by 150% or more.   It may also be oversized by only 50% or less.  How the boiler operates will depend on what piping and radiators it is connected to.  If you want to solve short cycling for low thermostat settings you will also be solving it for normal settings. 

This is over simplified but the concept is still there…  Don't just solve for low thermostat  settings, solve for all the time.

"Thanks. So the column btuh is for input btuh, then the column "rate" must be the output btuh."

Leave RATE blank. That is not for residential use. All they need is the INPUT from each appliance in order to select the proper size pipe from the gas main in the street to your home The model numbers are not as important as the BTU numbers. Also, this is not "rocket surgery". They need to know that you are not running a Commercial Bakery or melting Iron Ore with the 3/4" gas service they usually put in residential homes. The Mattress Police will not be knocking down your door with an arrest warrant for getting BTU calculation wrong.

It is tough to reference where those pipes are in fererence top your sntire system whan the photo is that close.. you need to step back so we can have some point of reference to how those popes connect to the system… in which direction are the radiators? In which direction is the boiler?

Here is an example of what I'm talking about.

I keep trying to put air in my tire but I don't think this tire valve is letting air in. The tire is not inflating . Am I doing something wrong?

but a picture from farther back tells a different story why the tire won't hold air.

Can you take a photo of those plugs from a little farther back?

The plug marked B in your photo is the lowest point of the wet return. It will be very difficult ot remove that plug. You can try spraying is with penetrating oil afor a week or two before trying to get a wrench on it, but I have had mixed success with fittings of that nature. Perhaps a high temperature torch with Mapp gas on that plug unyil it glows cherry red. but that may not happen since there is most likely water behind that plug. If you do get that plug out, I would install a ball valve and a cap for future service in the opening.

If you do get that to open, you can connect a garden hose fitting to that opening and force clean water in, then let the dirty water drain out. do this several times to clear up the mud in the piping.

If you can't open that one up, then use the one above it (A) and do the same thing. It appears that one (A) has been opened more recently and may come apart easier. Full port ball valves are a better valve than the hose bib you might try to use. Add a female hose connection at the ball valve to make it easy to connect a hose for pressure flushing. 3/4 FPT x 3/4 F Hose Fitting

Brass valves are often used with steel pipe nipples. As a matter of fact if that was a brass plug in the steel tee fitting there would be a much better chance of removing it. Dielectric nipples and unions are used on water heaters, Not so much on steam boilers. The plastic parts of those dielectric fittings don't stand up to the higher temperatures associated with steam boilers.

"Right under the so called hardford loop there is also a stand pipe cut short and capped that I labeled as C. What was this piping used for?"

that may be an old wet return from the original boiler. It is buried under the concrete so impossible to repair without tearing up the basement floor. It was most likely abandoned years ago and capped off to keep ground water from getting into the basement from the rusted away pipe that is still under the floor.

Do you actually have 2 cooking appliances? You did not give the incorrect information. I believe that you will just need to wait until the new gas service line is installed. If you have a 1" high pressure gas service then that is more than enough for 315,100 BTU. If you have an older low pressure gas service, then you may not have a large enough service. But I wouldn't be surprised if the new service will be a high pressure service line and probably be 1".

But it is easy to add. Do you own a 12" pipe wrench?