Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Monoflo Tee the Unique System

When should I use monoflo tees when installing radiators and baseboard and why.
 
Monoflo systems are very unique systems because they have a single pipe around the basement and both the radiation supply and return pipe come off that same pipe.  Water always wants to take the path of least resistance when flowing. If you tried to install a monoflo system without creating pressure differences with specially designed tees the water would not flow to the radiation, it would just flow around the main pipe in the basement. All heat flow is dependent on pressure differences whether it be warm air, hot water or steam. High pressure goes to low pressure all the time, you cannot change that. As long as we create enough of a pressure change it all works fine. On the other hand is we do not create enough of a pressure change it does not work so well.
 
The invention of the monoflo tee is what makes this system work. It creates a pressure change large enough to make the water flow up or down into the radiation and back into the main loop pipe around the basement. You may ask what is the main difference between a series loop which is also one pipe around the basement and a monoflo or diverter tee system. A series loop will start at the boiler and go through all the radiation. It does not have tees off the main loop to each section of radiation, it is a continuous loop from one radiator to the next. The monoflo system has the tees to isolate each section of radiation. A series loop system if you want to shut off a section of baseboard or radiator with a valve you shut flow to the whole loop. The monoflo system if you shut down a valve on a section of baseboard or radiator the rest of the system works. The flow is affected slightly but it would still work just not as efficiently as the flow in the complete system depends on the flow through the monoflo tee and the radiation. There is a limit of 15K btuh on panel radiators for this piping arrangement.
Legend Monoflow Tee - Bronze - Scoop Style - T-570 - 302-203 Diagram
The monoflo tee (see picture at the right) is designed to create a pressure difference between the supply tee and the return tee.  Let's look at the monoflo tee design.  The will have an arrow or a red ring to show direction of flow.

Legend Monoflow Tee - Venturi Style -  Bronze - T-569 - 302-213
 The way this system works is as the water flows through the pipe it will pass the first tee as the straight pipe is the path of lest resistance. When the water hits the venturi (see picture to the right) in the second tee the amount of water that passes through is reduced but the velocity is increased. The water that is being backed up waiting to pass through the venturi is building pressure due to circulator still pumping. As the pressure builds it will increase until the the pressure at the first tee is great enough to overcome the pressure drop through the radiation connected to the set of tees. The water will circulate through the radiation and the gpm flowing through the radiation is also increased by the venturi effect. As the velocity increases through the venturi it will create a suction at the top of the venturi tee which added to the pressure buildup on the supply tee will flow the proper amount of water.

Click here to view PDF piping arrangement picture

To purchase monoflo tees on our Houseneeds.com web site please go to the below link:

http://www.houseneeds.com/heating/copper-bronze-brass-fittings/legend-monoflow-tee-venturi-tees

Please call us if you have any questions at 866-432-8123.

 


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