Holistic Heating
Info
Author
Dan Holohan for Plumbing & Mechanical
Published
May 1, 1990
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“When I die," he said, "I want them to carve EVERYTHING WAS FINE UNTIL HE GOT HERE! on my tombstone."
l'd seen my friend Jim get philosophical before (it usually takes about four beers), but I'd never seen him get like this."
That's all I've been hearing lately: 'Everything was fine before you got here. We never had none of these problems before you showed up,'" he whined. (Jim could do a great Nasty Homeowner imitation.) "Ahh, they're driving me nuts, Dan. All I did was replace the corr per pipes with steel pipes, for Pete's sake! And now nothing heats. And guess what?"
"They're blaming you?"
"Yeah."
Jim was having an adventure in steam heating. He'd gotten himself involved with a few innocent piping changes in an old house, and now he was married to it.
Old Vapor systems are like that. They work on pure physics: water levels, tiny differences in pressure, stuff like that. They're real sneaky, and they're always looking for company.
Jim had been hired to replace the corr per mains some other guy had installed. The copper had lasted about two heating seasons. Jim was replacing it with steel which is what should have been installed in the first place.
We can sit around and argue about this all day long if you feel like it, but as far as I'm concerned, copper has no business being on the hot side of a steam system. Oh, I think it's great on the wet side because it won't clog as readily as steel, but it expands too much for the steam side. They're just too many angles in steam piping and too much of a temperature swing for copper to make it.
Let me put it this way: I think anyone who pipes a steam job in copper (especially a replacement boiler job) is making a very large mistake.
And I don't care what type of solder you're using. I didn't always feel this way, but I do now because I've seen too much of it fail in a couple of years. The joints just can't take the stress.
Oh, I know, it's cheaper, but let me tell you something: The Laws of Physics were written before the Laws of Economics.
Want two more reasons why copper is a mistake on steam piping? These came from a couple of Old-timers I respect: 1) Copper takes the trade out of steamfitting, and 2) It looks like you're wearing sneakers with a tuxedo.
Anyway, that's the way I feel. And Jim felt the same way; that's why he took on this job.
And now he was trying to get paid for the work he'd done, but the homeowner was holding his check because he had little or no heat in the house.
"That's got nothin' to do with me!" Jim shouted at the homeowner over the phone. "All I did was replace the pipes. I didn't touch the boiler. I didn't go anywhere near the radiators. And if I didn't touch the place where the heat ain't...well, then how can you blame me?"
His logic was unshakable. But the homeowner, with calm menace in his voice, said, "All I know is...everything was fine before you got here. Fix it." And then he hung up.
So that's how I found myself in the basement hallway of this circa-1920 rich guy's house that was slightly larger than a Russian war memorial.
"Look!" Saint Jim the Innocent said as he pointed to the brand-new steel pipes. 'That's all I did. I didn't touch nothing else. I swear. I didn't even think about nothin' else. I just replaced those pipes. Those pipes right there. There!" He was pointing at the pipes and shaking his head in "Who me?" disbelief like some bad guy caught gouging an eyeball on Wrestlemania.
I gave Jim a reassuring smile and said, "Give me a few minutes to look around, okay." Then I wandered off to be nosey.
Quiet Time: That's me. I can't help it. I always like to have those few minutes of quiet time right up front. I try never to make a diagnosis before I've seen the whole system. I call this approach, "Holistic Heating." Besides, I just like to poke around rich folks' homes.
Holistic Heating also means you never listen to anyone else's diagnosis until you've seen what you came to see. The way I figure it, if they knew what was wrong, they wouldn't have hired you. Make sense?
Besides, have you ever had that special human experience when the guy you're working with wants the problem solved, but he doesn't want you to solve it? It's like he wants you to be stumped, too, just so he can say, "See? Mr. Big Shot Expert couldn't solve it either. So there!"
That's why I started to wander off toward the end of the main because old Vapor systems often had these half-inch thermostatic steam traps that passed air from the end of the steam main into the dry return main. These traps are hard to spot unless you're looking for them. They usually sit up in the rafters like little cast-iron vultures.
I know that when those traps go bad, you'll lose your pressure differential across the system. And I know that once that happens, the steam will stop moving out to the radiators. That's what makes steam move, you know pressure differential. It's real subtle.
So I went out to the garage to look for the trap. And that's when Jim said, "Hey, whoa! Where the heck are you going?"
"I'm checking out the end of the main. I think we have some vent/traps on this job," I said. And then I explained to him about the pressure differential and all that. "Jim," I said, "you've got to realize that most steam trap elements only last about three years. We can't discount the possibility that bad trap elements could be causing the problem here."
But he wasn't listening. He got this faraway look in his eyes: "I didn't do no work in the garage, Dan. You’re not going in there. The garage has nothing to do with me. I worked only on these pipes here. THESE PIPES!”
He was truly a man with a mission. He didn’t want to know about anyone else’s pipes, or valves, or traps. Man, was he focused!
“Jim, don’t you realize you’re working on a system?”
“THESE PIPES HERE! THAT’S ALL I CARE ABOUT!”
“Jim, everything’s connected to everything else. You have to take a holistic approach to these problems, you know.”
“I GOT NOTHIN’ TO DO WITH HOLES! I JUST GOT TO DO WITH THESE HERE PIPES! HERE IN THIS ROOM! NOT IN THE GARAGE! HERE!”
Like I said, he was focused.
“Wanna get paid?” I asked.
That did it. He got pretty holistic from that point on. We found the end-of-the-main vent/traps and checked them out. They were fine. Then we worked our way back into the boiler room. I was looking for a central air vent.
Problem Solved: You see, on Vapor, everything vents through the radiators (they usually have thermostatic steam traps too), then into the dry return and back to this one central air vent in the boiler room.
I found the place where the vent used to be. It had been replaced with 3/4" pipe plug.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. There was a vent there. But it was leaking so we plugged it. BUT THAT'S THE ONLY OTHER THING I TOUCHED! I SWEAR. I DIDN'T TOUCH NOTHIN' ELSE. NOTHIN!"
Wrestlemania.
I explained to Jim that every steam system ever invented needs to be vented. Most Vapor systems worked with just one vent in the boiler room. Plug it and you're dead.
We opened the plug and the house heated in about two minutes. You should have seen Jim's face.
"I get paid now?"
"Yep!"
Then I had him crank the pressuretrol down as low as it would go. I do that all the time. You see, it's not pressure that heats a building, it's latent heat. And latent heat is there in the steam at zero psig.
The only reason you need pressure is to overcome friction in the piping. And Vapor systems are sized for very little friction. That's why the pipes are so big.
Another reason we lowered the pressure is because this system had steam traps. And when you have steam traps you have two choices: Either run very low pressures. Or use a condensate pump.
That's the only way you'll every get the condensate back into the boiler. If you crank the pressuretrol up, condensate won't be able to get back in the boiler. It will back up and block that one central main air vent.
Then the building stops heating.
So crank it down. And practice Holistic Heating.
(Hey, that would look pretty sharp on the side of a truck, wouldn't it? You like it? It's yours.)
l'd seen my friend Jim get philosophical before (it usually takes about four beers), but I'd never seen him get like this."
That's all I've been hearing lately: 'Everything was fine before you got here. We never had none of these problems before you showed up,'" he whined. (Jim could do a great Nasty Homeowner imitation.) "Ahh, they're driving me nuts, Dan. All I did was replace the corr per pipes with steel pipes, for Pete's sake! And now nothing heats. And guess what?"
"They're blaming you?"
"Yeah."
Jim was having an adventure in steam heating. He'd gotten himself involved with a few innocent piping changes in an old house, and now he was married to it.
Old Vapor systems are like that. They work on pure physics: water levels, tiny differences in pressure, stuff like that. They're real sneaky, and they're always looking for company.
Jim had been hired to replace the corr per mains some other guy had installed. The copper had lasted about two heating seasons. Jim was replacing it with steel which is what should have been installed in the first place.
We can sit around and argue about this all day long if you feel like it, but as far as I'm concerned, copper has no business being on the hot side of a steam system. Oh, I think it's great on the wet side because it won't clog as readily as steel, but it expands too much for the steam side. They're just too many angles in steam piping and too much of a temperature swing for copper to make it.
Let me put it this way: I think anyone who pipes a steam job in copper (especially a replacement boiler job) is making a very large mistake.
And I don't care what type of solder you're using. I didn't always feel this way, but I do now because I've seen too much of it fail in a couple of years. The joints just can't take the stress.
Oh, I know, it's cheaper, but let me tell you something: The Laws of Physics were written before the Laws of Economics.
Want two more reasons why copper is a mistake on steam piping? These came from a couple of Old-timers I respect: 1) Copper takes the trade out of steamfitting, and 2) It looks like you're wearing sneakers with a tuxedo.
Anyway, that's the way I feel. And Jim felt the same way; that's why he took on this job.
And now he was trying to get paid for the work he'd done, but the homeowner was holding his check because he had little or no heat in the house.
"That's got nothin' to do with me!" Jim shouted at the homeowner over the phone. "All I did was replace the pipes. I didn't touch the boiler. I didn't go anywhere near the radiators. And if I didn't touch the place where the heat ain't...well, then how can you blame me?"
His logic was unshakable. But the homeowner, with calm menace in his voice, said, "All I know is...everything was fine before you got here. Fix it." And then he hung up.
So that's how I found myself in the basement hallway of this circa-1920 rich guy's house that was slightly larger than a Russian war memorial.
"Look!" Saint Jim the Innocent said as he pointed to the brand-new steel pipes. 'That's all I did. I didn't touch nothing else. I swear. I didn't even think about nothin' else. I just replaced those pipes. Those pipes right there. There!" He was pointing at the pipes and shaking his head in "Who me?" disbelief like some bad guy caught gouging an eyeball on Wrestlemania.
I gave Jim a reassuring smile and said, "Give me a few minutes to look around, okay." Then I wandered off to be nosey.
Quiet Time: That's me. I can't help it. I always like to have those few minutes of quiet time right up front. I try never to make a diagnosis before I've seen the whole system. I call this approach, "Holistic Heating." Besides, I just like to poke around rich folks' homes.
Holistic Heating also means you never listen to anyone else's diagnosis until you've seen what you came to see. The way I figure it, if they knew what was wrong, they wouldn't have hired you. Make sense?
Besides, have you ever had that special human experience when the guy you're working with wants the problem solved, but he doesn't want you to solve it? It's like he wants you to be stumped, too, just so he can say, "See? Mr. Big Shot Expert couldn't solve it either. So there!"
That's why I started to wander off toward the end of the main because old Vapor systems often had these half-inch thermostatic steam traps that passed air from the end of the steam main into the dry return main. These traps are hard to spot unless you're looking for them. They usually sit up in the rafters like little cast-iron vultures.
I know that when those traps go bad, you'll lose your pressure differential across the system. And I know that once that happens, the steam will stop moving out to the radiators. That's what makes steam move, you know pressure differential. It's real subtle.
So I went out to the garage to look for the trap. And that's when Jim said, "Hey, whoa! Where the heck are you going?"
"I'm checking out the end of the main. I think we have some vent/traps on this job," I said. And then I explained to him about the pressure differential and all that. "Jim," I said, "you've got to realize that most steam trap elements only last about three years. We can't discount the possibility that bad trap elements could be causing the problem here."
But he wasn't listening. He got this faraway look in his eyes: "I didn't do no work in the garage, Dan. You’re not going in there. The garage has nothing to do with me. I worked only on these pipes here. THESE PIPES!”
He was truly a man with a mission. He didn’t want to know about anyone else’s pipes, or valves, or traps. Man, was he focused!
“Jim, don’t you realize you’re working on a system?”
“THESE PIPES HERE! THAT’S ALL I CARE ABOUT!”
“Jim, everything’s connected to everything else. You have to take a holistic approach to these problems, you know.”
“I GOT NOTHIN’ TO DO WITH HOLES! I JUST GOT TO DO WITH THESE HERE PIPES! HERE IN THIS ROOM! NOT IN THE GARAGE! HERE!”
Like I said, he was focused.
“Wanna get paid?” I asked.
That did it. He got pretty holistic from that point on. We found the end-of-the-main vent/traps and checked them out. They were fine. Then we worked our way back into the boiler room. I was looking for a central air vent.
Problem Solved: You see, on Vapor, everything vents through the radiators (they usually have thermostatic steam traps too), then into the dry return and back to this one central air vent in the boiler room.
I found the place where the vent used to be. It had been replaced with 3/4" pipe plug.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. There was a vent there. But it was leaking so we plugged it. BUT THAT'S THE ONLY OTHER THING I TOUCHED! I SWEAR. I DIDN'T TOUCH NOTHIN' ELSE. NOTHIN!"
Wrestlemania.
I explained to Jim that every steam system ever invented needs to be vented. Most Vapor systems worked with just one vent in the boiler room. Plug it and you're dead.
We opened the plug and the house heated in about two minutes. You should have seen Jim's face.
"I get paid now?"
"Yep!"
Then I had him crank the pressuretrol down as low as it would go. I do that all the time. You see, it's not pressure that heats a building, it's latent heat. And latent heat is there in the steam at zero psig.
The only reason you need pressure is to overcome friction in the piping. And Vapor systems are sized for very little friction. That's why the pipes are so big.
Another reason we lowered the pressure is because this system had steam traps. And when you have steam traps you have two choices: Either run very low pressures. Or use a condensate pump.
That's the only way you'll every get the condensate back into the boiler. If you crank the pressuretrol up, condensate won't be able to get back in the boiler. It will back up and block that one central main air vent.
Then the building stops heating.
So crank it down. And practice Holistic Heating.
(Hey, that would look pretty sharp on the side of a truck, wouldn't it? You like it? It's yours.)
