Heating Help

SHEMA

@ June 13, 2013 3:25 PM in SHEMA trap ratings

From my supplier:

SHEMA ratings only apply to an F&T trap, Steam Manufactures Association (SHEMA)  providing for the continuous elimination of air when the trap is operating at its maximum rating. No safety factor need be applied. Actual capacities are significantly greater than SHEMA rating indicates.

SHEMA

@ June 13, 2013 8:59 AM in SHEMA trap ratings

Dave, I reached out to my trap Rep and he asked his guy at TLV and he mentioned that the SHEMA is a very old rating system for trap capacities that is no longer used, there is a conversion but if you could tell me your application/product that might help him find the info faster

RIB

@ May 8, 2013 5:06 AM in RIBu1c

I had posted this on Oil Tech Talk a while back. Hope this helps.

I have a RIB2401D on our work bench , which consists of one Relay, and a Double Pole Double Throw switch (2 normally open switches and 2 normally closed switches) you can supply the Relay with either 24 volts, or 120 volts to energize the relay which will then switch the position of the switches from their former position (i.e, if a switch is N.C, then when the relay is energized it will switch to the open position) The voltage that powers the relay portion does not "touch" the switch section, they are completely separate, all it does is energize a coil of wire and creates  magnetism and when it does it causes the switch contacts to reverse their position, so since the voltage for the relay does not supply voltage to the sets of switch/switches, you have to bring your own source of power into each switch (either 24v, or 120v). I guess you can call the set/sets of switches in a RIB "Dry Contacts" which means no juice/no power. A switch is just a switch, think of the switch/switches inside of a relay like a wall switch (toggle) it is either open (no power allowed to go through) or closed, allows power to pass along) So if you have say a T-stat tied in to control the 24v side of the relay, when the stat calls for heat it will close a switch inside of itself to send 24v to the relay coil and energize it, now your switches inside of the relay will reverse their positions, so I had a 24v EP Switch hooked up to one of the NO switch's on the relay, and I got that power from the secondary side of my transformer, so once the t-sat received a call for heat it powered the relay coil and closed of my NO switches that had 24v waiting on one side of that switch, so once that NO switched to the closed position it sent 24v to my EP switch and opened my my Pneumatic damper. Hope i made some sense. I have a crude mock up on our bench with the RIB controlling a couple of different loads with both 24v, and 120v, the best thing to do is get your self a couple of these relays and start testing them with your multimeter to see how the switches operate when the coil is energized, and get yourself some copies of Carol Fey's books, she great at explaining the way relays work.

Steam Meter

@ May 5, 2013 4:39 PM in What's this?

That looks like a analog style steam meter,

Nipple

@ April 27, 2013 8:41 PM in brass nipple

Just re-read the original post, i thought you needed A 1/2" x 3/4" brass nipple, 1/2" X 1 1/4'" is a shoulder nipple correct? the 1/2" x 1 3/4" you might have to make up like the others have mentioned

Butt Nipples

@ April 27, 2013 8:37 PM in brass nipple

You might want to look for Butt Nipples, a 1/2" Butt nipple is 3/4" long, whereas a 1/2" Close nipple is 1 1/8" long. your local supplier might have them if they are an Old School supply house.

Student

@ April 26, 2013 5:11 PM in OH NO! OH YES!

Thats a lucky apprentice, you sound like a great guy to work with Techman, enjoy reading your posts.

Training

@ March 18, 2013 8:12 PM in Tim McElwain IN New Jersey

Wish I could make it Tim, but cant get the whole week off,

Tail piece tool

@ March 12, 2013 5:03 AM in Looking for plumbing tool that is no longer made

My old Boss had one of those, great tool, I believe he had told me that his old Boss had made it, how about bringing it to a machine shop to see if they can make one up?

Big Ugly

@ March 3, 2013 5:06 PM in 2013 Long Island BIG UGLY....who's in?????

Great Time, met alot of great people, thanks again Matt for setting it up, looking forward to the next one

Pilots

@ February 17, 2013 5:33 PM in Pilot Positioners

Thank you Bill W. We have (2) Siemens control valves for our  B&G heat exchangers (Steam to water Heat exchangers), one valve is a 1/3rd and the other is a 2/3rd valve (that's how it is labeled on our BMS) I blew a diaphragm on the 2/3rd steam valve actuator, replaced the diaphragm then noticed that both of the valves are all over the map (hunting up and down, but maintaining set point) thinking it might be a Siemens programming issue, but wanted to double check the Pilot positioners as well. Im on vaca next week and will take another look at the valves when i get back

Pilot Positioners

@ February 15, 2013 6:32 PM in Pilot Positioners

What is the proper procedure for calibrating a Pilot Positioner for a Pneumatic Control Valve?

Supplier

@ February 14, 2013 7:58 PM in steam trap supplier

Pumpguy, where are you located? I deal with quite a few suppliers in New York. Traps are expensive no 2 ways about it, new traps are often cheaper than repair kits, if your in teh NY/NJ area email me and ill give some good contacts

Classes

@ February 13, 2013 5:21 PM in Gas Training

I might be able to swing it if I could get the week off from work, that's only about an hour and a half away from me. Whats the price for the week Tim? and would we be able to take a couple of classes or we would have to commit to the whole week?

Gas lines

@ February 10, 2013 7:30 PM in garden hose for gas line

My Dad is a retired Inspector for the Housing and Preservation Dept for New York City, He once told me a story about a complaint about an apartment building not having heat or hot water, when he and his partner got to the building, they noticed a garden hose  rigged up to a stove and hanging out the window and it went to one of the apartmentds in the building next door... Ver scary....

Candle

@ February 5, 2013 7:59 AM in removing 80 year old pressure relief?

Hap, We have done it plenty of times, we keep a box of candles on site at every Building i have worked in, The old Plumbing & Heating outfits i worked for in queens NY taught me this trick on residential steam systems years ago, and I have used this trick for the past 17 years in Commercial Buildings in NYC on alot of Steam systems, Con Edison is also a big fan of using the candles on old bolts/nuts for High Pressure Steam work , and i have successfully disassembled screw pipe from 1/4" up to  3" with this trick, Give it a shot, what do you have to lose? And i have used Toilet Wax rings when i didn't have any candles left and it worked just as good.

New Relief

@ February 5, 2013 5:09 AM in removing 80 year old pressure relief?

You can try applying wax from a candle or even a toilet wax gasket, run the boiler for a while and let it heat up, apply the wax and watch it wick into the threads, then put your wrench on it a give it a turn, if it turns shut the boiler down, let it cool a little and remove the valve from the tapping, we have used candle wax on just about every type of application to remove tuff joints. But as Charlie mentioned try doing it in the warmer months in case you run into a problem

NY

@ February 1, 2013 9:45 AM in Combustion analyzer reading

Please keep us posted Jim, Thank you 

Training

@ February 1, 2013 5:11 AM in Combustion analyzer reading

Jim, any plans for New York/Long Island training in the future? Thanks

Boiler Flue

@ January 30, 2013 5:02 PM in New Boiler at the Best Mansion

Hey Dave, thats a real nice install your crew did for you, thanks for sharing the job with us. Do you think that the length of the flue pipe from the boiler to the chimney is too long, any issues with draft? is that single wall pipe?

Happy Birthday

@ January 27, 2013 8:33 AM in Happy birthday, Dan Holohan!

Happy Birthday Dan, and to my son Tommy who turns 2 today.

Trap

@ January 27, 2013 7:14 AM in Crossover trap

JStar, if you need some more contact info for suppliers of steam traps send me an email and I can give you the suppliers I use, Im sure they could find you a Nicholson trap, maybe one guy might be cheaper than another, Like Steamhead has said these traps are not cheap.