How One Missing Pipe Can Make All the Difference

HeatingHelp · 10:57AM

How One Missing Pipe Can Make All the Difference

A friend of mine, who is excellent when it comes to old steam systems, posted on HeatingHelp.com about a problem he was having on a job. The problem wasn’t in the steam-heating part of the system, which took care of the second- and third floors. It was in the hot-water zone that a long-gone contractor had piped off the steam boiler to heat the first floor of the house.

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BillyS · 10:57AM

I have a single pipe system with a "Brooklyn Special" to feed a sunroom and bathroom. I have the ability to direct some of the return through the boiler or bypass it. There is an aquastat on the line coming out of the boiler, it's set to 180F. The issue I have is when both thermostats call for heat.

I have to bypass quite a bit of the water coming directly out of the boiler or I get cavitation at the pump. The result is this hot water loop heats up very slowly (think 1+ hours) before I see around 135F on the return side. The pump itself is about the boiler's water line and I've wondered if that is the issue.

I mean the system works, but I do wish I could get that hot water loop to heat up more quickly.

Jamie Hall · 1:45PM

With the pump at the boiler water line — or even close — it's going to cavitate. No way around that. The solution, of course, is to set the pump as low as possible and the pump intake from a port low on the boiler.

How One Missing Pipe Can Make All the Difference

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