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Posted by Manny on June 07, 2007 at 10:01:08:
In Reply to: Re: Steam Drum Venting posted by rick on January 22, 2007 at 16:21:32:
Boiler tubes are designed for pressure,if you pull a vacuum you can and will suck in a tube,boiler tubes are .120 thick not even an 1/8" .Make sure you have a vacuum breaker installed on your vent,leaving the drum,all that is needed is to replace the 90 up top off the stm drum with a tee,reconnect the vent line,and install a check valve so that the flow arrow is going into the drum,that way if some body forget to open the vent,and a vacuum is created the check valve will allow air in,and once you fire up,the pressure will close the check valve.Believe me if the manual say's to do this,do it,the manufacturer could care less about gaskets going out,they don't want you colapsing a tube.To show the force of this vacuum,just remember how tight you tightened those manhole covers,and then think about the force it takes to suck them in to were they leak,very scary.Check valves are cheap,boiler tubes and down time are not