Near boiler piping upgrades, recommendations

I think a hydrolevel vxt leads to inattention to system leaks and keeps the water level at a disadvantageously low level for too much time. I greatly prefer a manual makeup water system, monitored and topped-off weekly to be able to understand and recognize water use over time so that any variation can be dealt with in a timely fashion.

if only the vxt measured water…

You can easily log how much you add by graduating your gauge glass, and not have a low water level half the time

I get what you’re saying, separate actual water meter

the vxt only measures how long it has turned the valve on, in some environments that can be somewhat close, in other environments the feed rate can vary wildly. If you have a steam boiler you should be looking at it once a week or so even if you have a probe type lwco.

JMHO but I agree with @ethicalpaul a feeder is ok……sometimes. Like anything else it has its place. But a building owner that has steam needs to know that steam is a little more of a hands-on system. Someone should be taking a peak at and around the boiler once a week and maybe more if it is cold out.

When I was a kid we had steam and it was my mother's job to check the boiler when she went downstairs to do laundry

Best upgrades are a well prepped skim port and more importantly a vaporstat. Bigger main vents are always better (i cant think of a time they arent right now).

if one main is bigger than the other you may need to slow the main vents in the smaller main to balance the system.

You are both right, pardon me for having a few cocktails before thinking the whole thing through. It is only an upgrade for the 90% of steam mains that are under-vented. Otherwise a detriment.

the close nipple being brass or stainless is probably helpful but not for galvanic protection but because the threaded part is thinner and it will tend to rust through at the close nipple first, by making it brass or stainless it won't rust.

There are many different installation types to consider. A small residential boiler with an automatic feeder will probably never be visited. A multi-family one with a licensed man will be regularly checked.

Know your customers.

In general, we throw out the steel pigtails that rust closed in five years and we install electronic and float low water cutoffs in our larger boilers. The VXT is a handy package and is much better than nothing as far a alerting a customer to water usage. We put blow down valves on gauge glass sets and king valves on larger jobs or those with multiple boilers.

We also put boilers up off the floor on a concrete base of sorts and strictly use American made fittings, pipe and valves. And we wire most things in conduit.