How Frank and John Taught Me To See
In 1989, when I was thinking about writing a book called, “The Lost Art of Steam Heating,” I went to see a young engineer named Frank Gerety. He had written a small book ...
Steam Heating → Steam Piping Help Topics
This section is your comprehensive guide on steam heating systems with articles about proper steam piping, boilers, pressure, venting, radiators, water quality, and more. We'll also walk you through troubleshooting steam system problems like noisy pipes.
Recent Articles in Steam Heating → Steam Piping
How to Size a Condensate Pump
Most manufacturers rate their condensate pumps in square feet EDR. You can easily convert whatever boiler rating you have to square feet EDR by using these conversion fac...
Returning the Water to the Boiler in Steam Heating Systems
In this excerpt from his Dead Men’s Steam School seminar, Dan Holohan talks about how water returns to the boiler in a steam heating system. He covers gravity returns, mo...
Steam Heating System Piping
In this excerpt from his Dead Men’s Steam School seminar, Dan Holohan looks at all of the different types of piping that you will find on steam heating systems. He talks ...
Near-Boiler Piping in Steam Heating Systems
In this excerpt from his Dead Men’s Steam School seminar, Dan Holohan shares his knowledge about near-boiler piping in steam heating systems. Proper piping around the boi...
The Pipes, The Pipes Are Calling!
If you look at the pipes in your old steam system you’ll notice that most of them are made of black steel. This was the standard in the old days. Nowadays, some contracto...
A Hartford Loop Q & A
Paul DuPont, a consulting engineer in Portland, Oregon, dropped me a line and suggested I write a bit about Hartford Loops - how they came to be, what they do, when you s...
Steam Boiler Piping Diagram
Steam boiler piping: The right way to pipe takeoffs from a header
Wet Returns
Whenever I quote a replacement steam boiler on a system with wet returns, I always quote a price to replace the wet returns, or at a minimum flush them out. Why? Most ste...
Steam Heating System Renovation
The list of steam heating contractors who have installed a completely new steam heating system is not long. By complete, I mean boiler, piping, risers, valves and radiato...