As a boiler operator I want to thank you for providing one of the best and most dynamic demonstrations of steam hammer I've ever seen! Truly a beautiful piece of work!

My son (who wants to be a mechanical engineer) watch these videos together, because you have a great method of presentation with lots of functional information compressed into a concise easy to understand format. Thank you so very much.

You are one of those inspiring teachers that teach their students not just what happens but how to really observe things. I’ll never look at pipes the same way again and will definitely not think of them as just pipes. Absolutely fantastic.

Excellent video. I'm actually a boiler operator, and I've seen the damage water can do once you put 170 tonnes of steam behind it. We recently had a catastrophic failure of a steam turbine after attempting to warm the steam lines without any drains open to allow the condensate to drain. Luckily no one was around at the time and no one was hurt. Steam is a very scary force to work with.

Once saw a maintenance supervisor open a 6” steam valve wide open after a 2 day shutdown. Put 250 psi steam into the steam main instantaneously. Blew a 500 psi blind flange that was 500 ft away off of the end of the main. Never did find the bolts that were holding it on. It’s amazing what steam can do in the right hands and what it can destroy in the wrong ones.

Your demonstrations are mind-blowing. Just an absolutely beautiful and awe inspiring visual.

I deal with this phenomenon every working night; bc my managers insist upon shutting the boilers I work with down at the end of their day shift. I come in at night (5 hrs. later) and have to fire them up again. Even though I have purge ports at the end of nearly every headpipe (and have them open); and have traps on every condensate return branch (before return mains), I get car-crash levels of hammer most nights, even starting on low fire. There's just not enough pass-way available to allow the condensate to clear. So it slams into end-flanges and traps; and I wince every time. That's how all my nights begin.

One of our biggest process issues in our large integrated steel mill is how to deal with the steam condensate in complex systems. Sure, condensate is a useful "byproduct" as described, and you'd think it would be easy to drain it off anywhere required. Not so. In my division, we have a combination of old and new steam systems and quite frankly it seems nobody actually understands much. These HP steam systems scare the crap out of me... I've heard that big steam hammer crash, and in no way is it like water alone ! Super vid.

This channel really blows my mind at how dangerous engineering can be if not applied or done correctly, even to the tiniest margin! This makes me really appreciate the architectures and the system inside them around me!

I remember a recurring incident at our plant where we kept getting damage from steam hammering at this one machine. We checked all sorts of things to try to figure out why so much condensate was building up in that run of pipe. Turns out one of the operators kept closing a _maintenance-only_ cutoff valve upstream from the steam trap because he didn't like the "hot water spitting into the ditch." 🙄

It's worth mentioning, that the partial vacuum formed by the steam condensing as it hits cold pipes is actually what drives the propagation of steam through the pipes, pulling the steam from the furnace towards the ends of the system (like radiators). This at least is true of low pressure steam heat systems in old homes, and I assume it applies to other applications also.

I work in an industry that uses water/liquid and steam flow every day, but as an operator of those systems, not an engineer. These visual demonstrations you make are extremely enlightening to see and help my understanding of the systems I work with. Thanks for making them!

4:30-5:00 I work in a water plant/distribution system, and as soon as the discussion turned to the condensate forming a seal in the pipe I'm going "yes, this is going to be great!". Whoosh, boom! But yeah, it is very dangerous. We've had issues of our own with water and differential shock involving trapped air and pressure reducing valves. We have a line feeding an online Ultraviolet Transmittance analyzer, which is fed directly off our high service pump main, a 14" pipe carrying 117psi, to a 1/2" line that ends at a pressure reducing valve that drops it to 35psi or less. We had an issue once of draining that large 14" piping to install a flow meter. Little did we know that drained the small line as well. When we bled as much air as possible out of the main, we missed that small line, and when the HS pump started the air hit the PRV, which air cannot operate, and was compressed to immense levels by the water rushing behind it, and the SCH80 piping failed spectacularly. One piece of a fitting was blown 46 feet across the room. Water is incompressible, but gasses are, and when they coexist in a sealed system bad things usually follow.

Reminds me of my own steam story. In the 1980’s, I spent a few nights in an apartment in Manhattan that apparently had steam heat. Boy the sounds that thing would make! It was like somebody was in the room with a hammer clanking on the radiator every once in a while. I don’t know how anybody slept, I don’t know how the system didn’t just break somewhere. 44 years later, still crystal memories of those nights!

Those slugs of water are dangerous. I never witnessed it myself, but I've heard about them slamming into the expansion bends on the main stream pipes and knocking off years of dust and paint, also making everyone in the plant soil them selves. The biggest fear of anyone in a steam plant is a main steam rupture, they are killers. Always always always bypass and warm up those steam pipes and ensure those steam traps are on service.

Good job, I've been steaming high pressure plants for 43 years. Proper warm up and draining is key.

I rarely (if ever) comment on videos, but I love your videos man. Keep up the great work. Would love to know what else you have to share on steam infrastructure.

Thanks to everyone for an awesome 2017! I have a lot of great plans for the channel next year, so stay tuned. If you'd like to join the 200 people helping to make this channel possible, head over to www.patreon.com/PracticalEngineering. Happy New Year!

Nice job on your video. I am a pipefitter/steamfitter, 22yrs now. I enjoyed your video very much. thank you.

This video is brought to you by a sponsor, but we're awesome and wont force you to skip the commercial and will just let it play at the end where my desire to skip will be outweighed by my laziness to let the auto playlist roll, finally someone has figured that out

a steam hammer is used to make steamed hams, isn't it?

I wish the experimental rigs you build would take a more important role in the videos. This one was pretty good, but in other videos you spent what could possibly be hours building something, only to show a few seconds of video. I think it's a shame, because you put so much effort into building them.

Used to work Site Operations in a large industrial setting. Steam and general high-energy piping was always a topic of discussion, especially during safety meetings with maintenance crews. One of my scariest experiences was performing an survey in a long tunnel where such pipes ran from a central boiler plant, and the very phenomenon shown in this video was always in the back of my mind when I was down there.

I have been working as an operator of engine rooms since 1986 (retired 3-21). I have seen a 300#, 3" tee blown out due to priming from improper boiler water level control (manually controlled coal boiler). I have many times tried to explain steam hammer to the new guys as a slug of condensate propelled at the rate of steam flow into the first obstruction encountered. Your video presents a visual representation I wish i could have shown them. Some got it, some didn't.

Aside from your amazing science/engineering instruction, I'm super impressed with your videography and definitely your speaking skills. Clear, concise, and you keep on point. I'm going to have to check out Skillshare myself for videography.

Just today I watched a video on new york's steam system and now you upload this. interesting

Just thought you'd appreciate knowing that your videos are actually being assigned as pre-lecture material in an accredited engineering school!

I just got a job at a job in the recovery department of a pulp mill. Working with boilers. One of which is nine stories tall. This video was very informative. Thank you

You asked me what I think of it. I am going to be honest. This is awesome!

Fun steam fact: as steam moves through a steel pipe, it will slowly erode it. Areas of high turbulence, such as bends, valves, sensors, and joints (even welded ones) erode faster.

I have been in chemical production for 42 years and in photography for 47 years. I have to say that you videos are very well done. I intend to use some of your video to teach certain things to my young operators. Thanks for sharing!!

Oh man. Your visual descriptions give me chills. The combination of technical knowledge and teaching is awesome, thanks for this.l

I as a plant operating engineer of 35+ years Have seen boiler system controls fail and overfill boilers forcing vessel water into steam manifolds . It sounds like a stick of dynamite and it's something to see an inexperienced operators face when it happens . I constantly remind newer engineers as to the potential dangers .

I can really see the improvement your channel has gone though in the past year of following your content. I love the video and the work your doing, keep it up!

Sir,I've been in the steam and refrigeration industry for over 30 years; I'm truly impressed with your simple-to-understand explanation regarding steam and water hammer. Excelsior to you!!

Grady, Hey man, thanks for this piece about steam hammer! I’m a retired engineering technologist, spending most of my career in electronics and IT, but touching lots of engineering fields. Steam has always been a bit of black (hot!) magic to me. I’ve always heard about the importance of maintaining steam traps, but I’d love to take a deeper dive into what makes them tick. I’ve seen some awesome / scary failures of vessels and piping under 1 atm. of pressure (250° F), and been amazed at how long it takes to boil off the released thermal energy. Steam hammer just adds another hair-raising aspect to what happens when the genie gets loose! Thanks for all your good work! I always give you a thumbs-up!

You call them steam hammers, even though they're obviously grilled

You have one of the coolest channels in YT right now, my man, fascinating stuff!

I wish this would go into more detail. You have a great narrative and i feel this video just scratched the surface. I'd be more than happy to watch 30min+ content of this style.

As a Steam an Thermal Energy Engineer I can say this is the most uncomplicated and understandable explanation I’ve seen so far. Thank you and I hope you don’t mind me using this occasionally to educate people in the industry, that are more interested in saving money than in saving lives because of lack of understanding.

It's actually how you get banned on steam from cheating in CSGO comp matches

Just a heads up to anyone that is wanting to try the experiment using the glass bottle: BE CAREFUL! The glass bottle can shatter and explode, shooting shards of glass everywhere. Ensure you wear proper safety equipment and use a glass bottle that can handle the stress imposed on it.

I rarely listen to the advertisement, but with you I actually do, Even do I'm not in condition$ to pitch in, I do really appreciate the hard work that is put in this videos, specially the ones that have real life applications.

I'm sure a lot of people do, but I'm also sure a lot of people don't understand how much work goes into preparing the demonstrations you do in your videos. Not to mention how many failed attempts you surely have to go through in many cases before getting the shot you actually need... and all to sometimes only use a 5 second clip in the final video. Just wanted to comment to say you kick ass Grady! I just recently started watching your videos completely, and I know a lot of these are old, but damn are they just 😙👌 huge props and major respect, my man!

The more I watch the more I realise it's a goddamn miracle anything in this world works

Fantastic. I had no idea. Glad I subscribed. Thanks!

I love your work on this channel. It's incredible how you manage to be professional, yet entertaining at the same time.

Thank you for sharing this very informative video I am Electrical Officer in Princess Cruises, we used a lot of "STEAM" onboard Cruise Ship and I got your video link from the Training Center that being presented by Instructor during my Day1 Training of Technical Refresher Online at CSMART. Once again thank you for this video very informative from now on I am one of your follower

I am from one of the germanspeaking countries and the people who speak my language don't make so good videos. Well done!

"I thought we were having steam clammer." "Oh, no, I said steam hammer!"

Excellent video, as usual. As I recall, a 'large' steam main, when first being started up would have what we called a 'warming valve'. Basically, instead of trying to crack open a 10" or 20" valve you'd have a 3" or 4" valved by-pass to make sure the large main was up to temp. first.

Thanks Grady, we use these for our physics/Civll Engineering coursework at home. We appreciate the time and trouble you put into these. Please keep going!

I'd be curious to see a good steam trap video myself. I know a lot of people that have problems understanding them. Especially impulse steam traps, conceptually hard to understand with out a decent video. But I'd like to see what other kinds there are besides Bi-metalic, oriface, and impulse.

Can you do a video on steam traps. I used to work on steam lines at a refinery

THANK YOU for putting the ad at the END of the video.

That is an excellent description of the water hammer concerns in steam delivery pipes. Another location steam hammer issue that is found in steam turbines, and the case there is somewhat different. At the plant we were most concerned about was the cases where the temperature or pressure of the steam dropped, and water droplets would form from the steam and be entrained in the steam flow. in this case, when there was a bend in the pipe, the water would impact and damage the pipe. You could audible hear the pinging of the droplets in the steam when this occurred. thankfully i never had an occasion to hear an actual occurence in the plant. This concern was greatest if the pressure for the steam header fell at the input to a generator. a case that could be caused if your steam turbine demand for steam increased faster than the rate of steam your steam source(boiler, nuclear reactor, etc) could increase at. when the pressure at the inlet to the turbine dropped, the Curtis and Rateau stages that drop the temperature and pressure of the steam to generate the kinetic motion of the turbine may cause condensate in the later stages of the turbine, as it was designed for a certain temperature/pressure of steam at the inlet stage. This can cause water hammer on the turbine blades and over torque the later stages of the turbine. in fact one site had such an issue the last stage of the turbine oblong-ed the shaft and caused a vibration that required the turbine stages removed and sent to the factory for many months to be repaired. The greater danger here, is that you can over pressurize the condenser unit that is below the turbine. a condenser often has blowout discs, but if over pressurized can become a bomb in the plant. they are often oversized to the turbine and fitted with blowout discs to prevent this.

Surprised you only covered just the one problem with steam. I used to work on a large estate as an electrician, but as we were multiskilled, i dealt with some aspects of heating, that included the steam system, i was trained in how to work with steam. On an industrial steam heating system if the steam is shut off to a building (auto safety valve), to restore the steam we shut of the manual valve, reset the safety, then gently crack open the manual valve for a short period, this was to start the heating of the condensate, this was followed by a series of opening and closing that valve until we could only hear the steam going though the pipe without the boiling sound. Basically, if you let the steam in too quickly, it would flash the condensate to steam, creating a lot of pressure. Those coffee machines with the steam injector boil the water in ther cup in the same way.

Steamed hams? Oh no! I said Steam Hammers!

From Portugal. I am studying environmental engineering. Your channel is very amazing. I am learning a lot of things. I wish that you will have a great success and continue to do new amazing short movies. Great job!

The demonstration of the slug/piston was great, I like that it ruptured the middle join just to show how much pressure built up.

I thought you were making a video on steamed clammers?

STEAMED HAMS but it's an educational video about STEAM HAMMERS

I appreciated that you didn't include an ad at the beginning of your video. Good decision :)

i'm a piping engineer just starting out not too long ago and you've just taught something very important to me about 2-phase systems! Thanks!

8:35 "We don't normally need access to Steam in our everyday lives" wait where am I supposed to get my games then? XD

Here in Albany we call that Steam Hams

I work a spring and fall maintenance shutdown at a coal power plant. I’m a Union carpenter and we built the scaffolding for the boilermakers and plant workers wherever they have work that is elevated. Every shutdown we build in boilers that need pipes replaced that hold the water that’s heated and turned to steam to spin the turbines. It is incredible how much damage is done when just one of the 4 inch pipes blows from pressure. It will destroy all pipes for 6 feet on either side of The malfunctioned pipe.

In 1992 I worked for a small engineering company. I was sent to a large chemical storage plant to map certain pipe networks and to check if the pipes, supports, and valves still complied to regulations. This was a two-week operation; it was a BIG plant. One day I was at one part of the plant and I heard this Whooshing and hissing noise. When walked around one of the tanks I encountered a steam pipe with an open end - the blind flange had been half-blown off. It was doing what you describved: blowing a lot of steam and occasionally shooting a blob of water. Now, 30 years later I understand what was going on there. Of course I reported the occurrance to the operators of that part of the plant.

I was expecting a machine that specifically makes Steamed Hams

This video has been sponsored by Valve

In steam turbines the condensed steam in the condenser increases the work of the turbine by changing the pressure differential across the turbine. Thank you so much for your videos. I learn something new every video.

As an old engineer wanna be I find you videos informative and fascinating. I've seen steam hammer in action but fortunately no injuries.

Next month: What is Ice Hammer?

up next has to be ice hammer right?

I was a NDT worker (Pt,Mt,Ut & Rt) for many years. We were sent into many different types of industrial applications to test steam pipping and other systems. The steam pipes erode from the inside out, so thickness was measured ultrasonically with the major area of interest at 90 and 45 degree bends.To prevent steam hammers many systems used a dryer to remove any water vapor that can occur.

worked several years in maintenance of food factory, steam is used a lot for heating and sterilising.....revised and replaced a lot of different typ of steamtraps...... and everytime we had to start up a cooled off steampipe..... very frightening, especially with bigger diametres.....hammertime :-) ...... good videos, keep up the good work! grtz from Belgium

Can’t these also form high speed “bubbles” that basically implode on themselves?

And they asked me where the engineering knowledge will be used in real life

Thank you for the clear presentation of the topic. Also very easy to understand for a non-native speaker.

I work with 120psi steam boilers and related equipment and you explained it and demonstrated it perfectly! Great job!

MMMMM, steamed hams!

Is there ice hammer?

great explanation, i work on steam boilers and a lot of old buildings have badly pitched steam lines and the steam condenses, then during the next heat cycle the steam hits the water and bang!

Just happened across this video and found it very clear. I'm a retired Master Chief Boiler Technician and I wish I would have had this video to help me understand when I was just starting out and later to help me explain steam hammer to the young sailors I was responsible to train.

What's a steam turban?

A hammer that uses steam

Holly cow ... My comments about not using pound worked. Thank you . Your videos are awesome. Please keep it up .

Being a marine engineer myself, this definitely helps in strengthening my knowledge fundamentals & safe-working practices. Thanks a bunch.

I call them steam hams

Came for Steamed Hams meme. Disappointed.

Used to work in a 1950s era steam power plant. Sometimes during startup (not often thankfully) some of the steam piping would present some fairly loud bangs. We knew what it was, but it was unnerving all the same. Being able to visually see the dynamics makes me glad I'm retired now.

I have several vintage steamfitters books, and trust me, they were not easy topics. Do love the art work....

Steam turbans

Wow. Excellent job explaining this. Steam has been a mystery to me but this hit home. Awesome job.

I have just started to work with steam system maintenance. This video is very helpful!

I studied chemical engineering and we learned much about steam systems and heat managing in industrial plants. But we never learned about this scary effect! I am glad that you taught me this useful knowledge in this easy to understand and entertaining way. Thank you, i would recommend everyone studying in this kind of field your videos. Keep up the good work

Spent 5 years as a mechanic in a submarine power plant. Steam hammer is pretty scary stuff. Sounds like a train hitting a brick wall at 150 mph and you can see pipes jump. Happens when someone forgets to put traps in service or tries to put them in service too early before they've been warned up and condensate backs up too much. Only other thing that comes close is when someone doesn't put a trap on right and steam just starts shooting into the engineroom.

I work in a large geothermal energy field, and this is a great video to describe a very important topic, we have an extensive condensate management system.

Where I grew up there were several of us nerdy 10 year old kids. We once took a 55 gallon drum, put it up on bricks put some water in it and with the bung out built a fire under it with a few gallons of water in it. After the steam was coming out we put out the fire. After the steam calmed down I screwed the bung back in. I'll never forget watching that drum crush itself.

This video gave me an "Aha!" moment. The angle capturing this phenomenon at 4:40 is solid gold. Thank you for your work on this and your other great videos!