O.A.C. Bldg. Vents

The steam mains were vented by means of F&T traps at the ends of the mains and at mid points. These types of traps pass their air to the return pipes and out the condensate tank vent. The problem with F&T traps is that they are designed to pass large quantities of hot condensate, but don't pass air very well at all. This was fine since fuel was cheap. But fuel isn't cheap any longer! So we removed the condensate tank which in our opinion is a dumb device in that if the condensate can make it back to a tank, it can surely make it another five feet to the boiler. A false waterline pipe was added to simulate the original coal boilers height. This put the wet returns back under water. All the F&T traps were removed since they were no longer needed. And we installed massive air venting capability at the ends of the mains. The point here is that the faster we can get the air out of the system, the faster the steam can get in, the faster the Tekmar control gets happy and shuts off the boiler sooner. Massive venting is what accomplishes this. Since steam can short circuit across radiators as its going down the steam main which could cause overheating of those radiators we installed a zone valve on the return pipes vent manifold that won't open until the end of the steam main gets hot and triggers the strap on aquastat. This ''air locks'' the radiators until steam makes it to the end of the building. This provides more even steam distribution.

F&T trap that was removed.

Another that was removed. There were 7 of these removed.

False water line to duplicate coal boilers waterline.

Condensate tank that was removed.

Massive venting of the long steam main.

Several Gorton #2 vents on the short main.

Looking up at the return pipes vent manifold, with a zone valve mounted on it.

Another view of return pipe vent manifold.