Hartford loop set up .. done wrong or right?

I am just a homeowner, not an expert. But the more I stare at that picture, the more I see things that concern me....

Wrong and may be the cause of the hammer

It looks like a 8" to 10" long pipe between the copper elbow and the Tee fitting

You want the pipe here to be as short as possible. A street elbow serves the same purpose as a Wye fitting or a close nipple.

Let me know if you liked the story.

Mr. Ed

Let's see some pictures from a couple different angles of the header and the takeoffs from the boiler. There could be something wrong there too, if the installer did what he did with the Hartford Loop.

Just to make you feel a bit better, my installation is a S show in it's own right, being way too high. I have to keep water level higher because of this and monitor water quality like a hawk, along with too small riser and header etc. etc.

I would have a Voodoo Doll of my installer but I'm not sure who it is. It may be my neighbor up the street but I'd have to put him on a polygraph to find out 🤣 I plan to fix my HL next off season. I swear lol.

Here is Dan Halohan's specific language in that video (thanks for bringing my attention to it again)

@1 :20 The wet gravity return line, which returns the condensate from the system, rises up from the floorto join the equalizer at a point about 2 in. below the boiler's lowest operating waterline.

@3 :34 The point where the loop connects to the boiler's equalizer is higher than the boiler's “crown sheet”, and that's what provides the safety.

@5 :07 Generally you should connect the close nipple about 2 in. below the bottom of the gauge glass, but check the boiler manufacturer's spec. on this. The centerline of the close nipple has to be below the waterline, but above the boiler's crown sheet. And don't install the close nipple 2 in. below thec enter of the gauge glass because that's probably too high. You see when the water leaves the boiler as steam the level in both the boiler and the equalizer will drop, If it drops below the close nipple, steam will push down through the equalizer into the wet return and create water hammer. This usually happens near the end of the firing cycle and it causes a very noticeable racket.

Here's a Dunkirk Oil Fired Steam Boiler install where they say centerline of Close Nipple is 2 in. below the centerline of the bottom sight glass tapping waterline. Much lower than most people seem to be installing them. It's a safety from dry firing (in the case of a leak in the wet return) for crying out loud, and the 2nd one in line after the LWCO fails. Seems to vary a lot by boiler manufacturer though which may be leading to confusion. Peerless says "Pipe the Hartford Loop such that the top of the close nipple is 2 to 4 inches below the boiler normal water line".

This is after I flushed and re-filled with clean pre-boiled distilled treated with Rectorseal 8-way. That's about the target color of light violet to medium violet (normal phenolpthalein pH indicator). 21 year old boiler and I'm not running it without treatment or lousy super hard tap water with high chlorides. It is running very good now with less than 1/4 in. of bounce in the sight glass (good for this boiler install) and no apparent carry over/wet steam issues. System very quiet now. Just a faint whisper from the vents with very little panting. pH seems to be 9.6 from Hydrion paper but I'm waiting for new batteries for my digital meter. The issue is that I have to keep my water level on the high side due to the improper Hartford Loop, which reduces my steam chest, especially with the 2 in. riser and header that was installed when it is supposed to be 2-1/2 in. (= 56% more cross sectional area) and the boiler is not level being tilted so that water level at the takeoff is about 1/2 in. higher than at the sight glass, and the header is tilted upwards towards the equalizer.

Polygraph machines are expensive even on eBay………oh……right…….ugggh don't remind me! 🤣

you have to skim the boiler to get the oil out before it will work right, the sight glass is full of oil, it wasn't skimmed after it was installed. the piping isn't right but may be ok once you get rid of the oil so it isn't surging