A Co-op Board Conquers a Condensate Pipe. Here's How You Can, Too
Condensate pipe in uncovered trough
June 10, 2014 — Energy consultant Tom Sahagian is Senior Program Director, Technical Services, at Enterprise Community Partners.
Frustrated and confused, Jane gave me a call.
It was a sign of desperation. Jane, her co-op's resident boiler expert, prided herself on taking excellent care of the heating system. Usually, it ran smoothly and efficiently, but lately she had been making endless trips to the basement to add up to two or three inches of water to the boiler.
Adding a lot of new water into the boiler is wasteful and damaging: New water contains dissolved oxygen. As soon as it enters the boiler, that oxygen starts looking for a bit of metal to chomp on. Enough chomps and you've got a leaking boiler tube, or worse.
At least Jane knew there was a problem.
Feeders and Failures
Many boards simply install an automatic water feeder and have no idea how much new water enters their boilers until the tubes or sections begin to leak. Under Jane's leadership, the board members eliminated the most common cause of new boiler water.
So what did they do? After steam has given up its heat in a radiator, it condenses into water and returns to the boiler as condensate through "condensate return pipes." These are typically buried beneath the basement floor to avoid a tripping hazard. When these pipes leak, they can only be repaired by being dug up. In the case of Jane's building, the pipes had been dug up and repaired not once, but twice. Infuriated by that, the board eventually constructed shallow concrete troughs for the pipes and covered them with a fiberglass grid. (See image below.)
The grid made pipe inspection easy, and Jane checked all the pipes. She and another board member also inspected all the above-floor condensate returns, and found nothing. It turns out Jane and her fellow board member had looked “everywhere” except in the oil tank room. In fact, the other board member had stuck his head into the room and looked in one corner where there was a condensate pipe, but he couldn't see all 10 feet of the pipe because the oil tank itself blocked his view.
Tanks, But No Tanks
It's no surprise, really, that he did not want to venture into the tank room. It smelled, it was dark, there was almost no clearance between the filthy tank, and the waterbug-covered walls, and the only way in was through a narrow, square access door about three feet off the ground.
Luckily, I rarely turn down a chance to ruin another t-shirt. After Jane brought me in, I armed myself with a flashlight, put on heavy boots, and made my way through the access door. In order to see the entire pipe, I had to traverse the entire perimeter of the tank. In so doing, my two wishes were granted — my t-shirt was ruined, and I found the leaking pipe.
The next day a plumber came in and replaced the leaking section of pipe, and removed most of the wet sludge underneath that undoubtedly contributed to the corrosion. Jane was able to cut way back on her nocturnal boiler room visits, and I went searching for a new t-shirt.
Case closed.
For more, see our Site Map or join our Archive >>