Steam Boiler Heating Basics to Save You Money! Tips for the Homeowner and Advice for Professionals

[@domenicpetruso7751]

I like to watch steam boiler videos and this is an excellent summary of the basics. Thanks for sharing.

[@eddiew.6485]

Mikey, 49.7k………50k by the end of the year! Congrats!🎉 Was a pleasure to join you and go for the ride and watch you and your company grow!

[@littlemanwithglasses5491]

Love the way you teach, naming the parts every job helps sooooo much. I challenge my self everytime to call out the correct names

[@mf827]

Glass is a super cool liquid, that is why old windows are thicker at the bottom, gravity. Heat causes the molecules to speed up, ie. Thicker at the top. Your a good man, keep up the fight..

[@billn9n]

Loved the video, I also love that you bought awareness to the inhumane trap on the floor. All life should be respected.

[@PipeDoctor]

Absolutely!!

[@donaldclark1872]

Good job Peter!!! Thank you again Mikey Pipes for sharing your knowledge and entertaining us! I have six books by Dan. I’ve been reading them again this year. Thank you again!!

[@donaldclark1872]

@@PipeDoctor I got all of mine last year but I will read them over again as well. Might’ve missed something the last read.

[@jeffreykubiak5126]

Thanks Mikey Pipes ,stay safe!

[@mr.mr.4356]

Reading that book now

[@PipeDoctor]

Awesome. It’s full of valuable knowledge

[@mptr1783]

Love your videoes thank you! Got a call from my tenant who said her boiler isnt working(town was there yesterday and replaced the water meter). Wondering if they either turned off the water valve to the boiler or if turning off the main meter could affect the heater??? At least watching your vids gave me an idea of what to look for thanks again

[@mptr1783]

as a followup: pilot is lit, and boiler fires up, but doesnt circulate hot water to baseboards. Drained some water out and a lot of air in the system. Do you think turning off the main water(when meter was replaced) couldve affected the system since it seemed to have lost its prime? Or should I be looking for a leak somewhere under the crawlspace? SEems odd that the problem developed right after meter was installed

[@theinspirationruum2084]

Love your videos brother

[@PipeDoctor]

Glad you like them!

[@RasheedsFam]

Hello, I love watching your contacts. I have a question . My pipes keep making noise when the heat comes on. Can you give me some advise

[@derekg514]

Hey Mikey, great video. I noticed the water in the sight glass was still dirty even after you finished, is that normal? Also, does it matter if the boiler is running and producing steam or cold when you check the amount of water in the sight glass?

[@GothRocker7]

Great video Mike, so well done and educational, I agree with you about clean water, it is common sense. clean water will boil at 210 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit. I have had many people argue that water boils the same whether it is clean or dirty and will not make a difference if dirty. what is funny these are the same people always miserable and bitching about their gas bill.

[@doncaranci2547]

Hi Mike, Peter, Daniel and Mike Have a good day boys \

[@keithmolbeck260]

How can the room temperature for individual rooms be lowered?

[@T-Willfixit]

Thanks again mike

[@thefathvacguy6341]

Almost 50k amazing Mike been a subscriber since the bigging....Kelvin...Godzilla... Lol. Keep up the great work my brother...Keep making the trades great again

[@mf827]

Have you ever installed a vapor stat.

[@frankm5019]

Drain the boiler once a month to keep water clean. What if you have 100 year old steam pipes .drain the boiler on Monday morning and by Tuesday night the chocolate milk returns

[@johnamerican1578]

Hi Mike Like myself started getting paid to do plumbing 1964! No PVC yet ! Us old school (teachers) are dwindling!! Don’t know if you have explained to your viewers the difference between one and two pipe steam systems? I enjoy watching your videos ✅. PS I learned from my dad who started in 1916 at the age of 15 😮

[@IBoughtASupra]

Very good tips that I do to keep my EG-2 Weil-McLain chugging along. What do you think of the Williamson GSA boilers. My old Weil McLain might need to be replaced soon.

[@cspill99]

What's the best type of piping for the water lines? Can pvc be used?

[@LorenzKamo]

Appreciate the video!

[@ohno2112]

Dan is the man !

[@HelloWorld-hb7yt]

can you tell me what you charge for a maintenance trip like that?

[@mustangmike6421]

Whats with the self tappers holding that pressure relief valve piping together.

[@PipeDoctor]

IDK

[@halloweenchainsawsforgoo]

As normal Mike informative and brain food thank you

[@frankchandler8005]

Would you skim the boiler if there were a skim port there as part of the maintenance along with what you're doing in the video. At 3.47 I like the screw someone put in the relief valve 3/4 male adapter and 90 down spout. good tutorial. mike. Peter did good identifying the boiler components and parts , usually people get nervous working on steam boilers. I always found them easy.

[@arielhernandez2911]

Lmao the self tap screew on the relief valve haha

[@HelloWorld-hb7yt]

Great stuff man, may I ask you a question? Do you recommend water drain every week to get the dirty stuff out?

[@HelloWorld-hb7yt]

Very helpful, what about spring time, do you drain the tank or leave it as is?

[@throttlebottle5906]

1980's called about the brown bucket in video. lol, I have one of it's twins here...

[@jasonjohnsonHVAC]

This morning im going to repair a electric steamer. 9 heating elements.....300 amps and its rated at 2.2 million btu's. Dont see many electric boilers. 1986 model. Love steam and prefer it over water.

[@bobcat138]

This is the first time I have seen you put oil on burner tubes, doesn't it burn off causing a bad smell ?

[@tjlovesrachel]

Goes right up the chimney lolll

[@dansuttz]

WOW... Mike I gotta say, I watch all your videos from Canada. Following you since day 1. I gotta say Peter has come a long way. Your patience in teaching him has show off. Great job Peter. And Mike & Peter Happy Thanksgiving!! You guys are TITS!!

[@benjamintimmins1656]

You can spray the burners down with aerokroil or wd40 and it be back in flames and be fine??? I could do this with my furnaces and ribbon burners?

[@2pugman]

Can a steam radiator clog up inside ? I have the proper pitch and a new Hoffman air vent. Water fills the air vent and I have to drain it for the next heat cycle.

[@throttlebottle5906]

do you also have banging in the pipes? I'd guess clogged returns and water laying in the lines, it cannot return if there's an blockage and vapor locking. alternately the system is overfilled right up to filling the radiators with water! DOH.

[@j.a.1265]

Hi Mike, good advice regarding draining the boiler on a monthly basis, in order to have clean water present and therefore optimal boiling temperature in order to save fuel. But doing so introduces lots of new oxygenated water into the system which ultimately will lead to shorter boiler life, due to rust, etc. a trade off for sure. Any thoughts?

[@bigmacdaddy1234]

Been draining and refilling my steam boiler for 20 years every month. So when exactly will it lead to having a 'shorter life'?

[@Henry8757]

22:40 dirty water takes longer to boil. which leads to higher heating costs.

[@frankm5019]

8:23 .pressure Guage has a means for removal.what happens when pressure Guage is flush with boiler ,.no nut visible?

[@maxgrind438]

Awesome

[@silverwoodchuck47]

Having taught me some Yiddish, I return the favor: "¿Dónde están las chicas latinas?" You say it incorrectly, although the point stands: This is a good question and the answer is important.

[@johnrebelo6688]

Doesn’t that shorting the life of the boil if you keep changing the water? How about if my water feeder feeds clean water ever night?

[@PipeDoctor]

Monthly testing and draining is required. More frequently is no bueno

[@anthonyzarcone8696]

How do you like 8 way treatment and what pH is correct.

[@danniemoore97]

​@@anthonyzarcone8696 neutral ph

[@kevin7151]

Great video Mikey. Seems like you put Surge-x in new installations. Any reason you dont do so on annual maintenance? Another Burnham SIN7 owner here. Congrats on 49.7K subs, soon to be 50K, perhaps by the holidays.

[@makemoneyonlinebetter]

To get rich, you have to be making money while you're asleep- David Bailey

[@jasonhorvath9883]

My boiler has no sight glass

[@PipeDoctor]

Then you have a hydronic system

[@georgesons2160]

I never heard any1 say to prime the pig that’s a new one for me

[@SStevenson555]

As a hearing impaired person it might have been a good idea to have the guy naming the parts mic-ed up.

[@nightone9720]

Prime the pigtail. The whole purpose of the pigtail is to prevent direct steam from damaging the gauge. Otherwise there would be no pigtail tail (trap).

[@nightone9720]

So I was taught by my boiler sensei that the shape of the pigtail causes water to get trapped in the loop in order to protect the pressure control from direct steam. Therefore he always told me it's important to prime the pigtail before use. He told me that if tge pressure control was meant to be exposed to direct steam, then there would not be a pigtail trap in the first place. There would just be a straight vertical nipple instead of the pigtail. I was always taught that on new installs we are supposed to prime the pigtails before installing the pressure controls onto them. It's just what I was taught. And my boss made a big deal out of it and yelled at me for not doing it once so I'm conditioned to be an asshole about it. Haha 😆 Love your content tho Mikey! You do outstanding work! Tbh I doubt it's really that big of a deal to prime the traps because after an hour of running it probably primes itself without any issues.

[@josem2468]

@@nightone9720 Dam good answer. It make sense to me. I guess the really question should be (Why use a pig tail pipe to a pressure switch). Well water circuits use straight pipe to the pressure switch.

[@nightone9720]

@@josem2468 YES! You sir are absolutely correct. That is exactly how to look at it. Beautiful answer right there.

[@TermitesRGood1]

The comment about USA manufacturing when i built my house in 2014 people told me everythings made in china wood drywall etc.. I started to do some digging.. 100% of this house is Made in USA plumbing pipe wiring 100%... You have capacitors that are made in usa. and Gauges..... more manfacturing needs to come back agreed.......

[@whodat1473]

No need to prime the pig tail, it will fill with water after the first cycle

[@chuckquinn8026]

I would think if the pigtail needed to be primed, it would be written in the installer manual 🤷‍♂️

[@throttlebottle5906]

no need, it quickly self primes with condensate at the first start of steam and minor pressure changes. it's more or less there as a surge damper, to keep large steam surges and rapid flashing off from banging the switch, which keeps it from chattering/short cycling on/off, also stops mechanical damaging it.

[@RealityRenovations]

To be fair… it’s 7 sections… probably weighs as much as a cow 😂

[@MedinaCliff]

Interesting,... BIDUMB only has 27 million followers on Twitter but since trump has been reinstated he has now 87 million followers...LOL

[@josem2468]

That 87 million followers waiting for there KING.

[@steveblake8766]

151 thumbs up

[@throttlebottle5906]

mmm, hot chocolate milk @ 9:03

[@frankm5019]

Air in a can ..who needs it.when you have a leaky window from 1927 right above the boiler.

[@walterskelton411]

How to get rid of "C" hair....15:34 ;)

[@scottmaz4063]

Forgot to repack the packing nut on gg valve. Take piece of tefon tape and roll it up like a string and wrap on shaft 4 times.

[@richards5843]

[@richards5843]

Products made in China saves companies around 20% but with high fuel cost means higher shipping cost and that's why some manufacturing are coming back to the U.S. Trump had a lot to do with companies beginning to bring back job from overseas.