Best Of
Re: Troubleshooting Boiler pressure increase
Personally, if I were involved I'd get and new expansion tank. Then the "fill-a-trol valve that your expansion tank is currently hanging from would go in the garbage. I would replace that with a convention PRV of your choosing. There will be some minor repiping involved with this. While you are at it, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the relief valve on the boiler as well. Then I'd refill and purge air and see where you stand.
In my experience the fill-a-trol valves do no work very well, or last long.
Re: Venting into a chimney
but you could use the unused chimney as a chase to run the correct flue.
Re: leaking return line
A local plumber. We do not have many HVAC people around here that know steam heat The leaks are below the water line. Just curious , If the cpvc will take the heat why would it not work?
leaking return line
Just bought a home with single pipe parallel steam heat system. We are learning as much as we can about it. Our issue : The return line is rusted an leaks in several places. We have been told we can replace the return line: or at least the leak with cpvc 1.5 inch pipe. Would that work? The insulated steam line runs around the basement to a vent. Then uninsulated pipe drops to the floor and returns 70 feet to the boiler. We can do the job ourselves if the cpvc would work . .
Re: New Refrigerants
you can measure the pressure and temp and compare to the chart. beyond that i don't think there is a simple way.
i think they prefer to incinerate it or maybe just put it in a warehouse somewhere until it leaks out instead of re-processing and reselling it so they can use the limited supply to price gouge on new refrigerant.

Re: Sad day at work - wall mount toilet tank hole
I don't want the government involved in the this we have enough already…
If Manufacturers should make them with that steel plate maybe some of us will pay the extra 💵 (recently I become among those who would 🤔)

Re: Sad day at work - wall mount toilet tank hole
i think that is going to happen sooner or later where you have to rip the wall open to fix something if you bury a toiler rank in a wall.

Re: Who owns who?
Asking who owns whom in tools or boilers… or makes a given brand… try it with cars! At one time — like when I was a kid — at least GM or Ford or Chrysler made all the bits for the cars in their lines — although while engines tended to brand specific, most of the rest of the car wasn't, except for odd trim pieces. That gradually changed and at first engines were no longer brand specific — and now!
Trying to figure out which engineering firm on which continent and in which country designed the particular part, never mind vehicle, and then which factory where actually built which part… a real nightmare. And worse, it can change… replacement parts (particularly electronics) seem to change weekly. With the quality varying all over the map. Often your best bet is to go to your local you-pull junkyard!
Re: Vent placement in home 2-pipe steam heat system
@mattmia2, by "slowing the system", I did not mean the boiler; I meant the system heatup time.
I'm with you. But, there is an underlying principle here that I'll try to make explicit. Imagine a main tee section 50' long with 10 runouts equally spaced 5' feet apart; runouts length, radiator and vent are identical. In the heatup (venting) cycle, there is a time diff between steam reaching the first and last radiator.
Now, a large vent is added to end of main. What happens? The main vents more quickly; steam passes each runout more quickly, and so the runouts begin venting sooner (but not faster). As steam passes a runout, it separates air in main from air in runout; that runout related vent no-longer contributes to main venting but starts runout/rad venting. So, it appears that,
- Main venting does not cause mains to literally vent first; it causes them to vent faster relative to the runouts; runouts will begin venting as steam in the main passes them.
- The only way the first and last rad can vent at same time due to mains venting is if main length is zero (or runouts are at same location in main).
- The reduction in time diff between first and last rad getting heat due to added main vent is a function of the change in time to vent the main. As main venting time is not zero, balance between the two rads cannot be reached, just improved.
- Adding generous venting to the last rad may not bring it to balance; the issue is the time diff between the steam to reaching the first and last runout; if, e.g., the diff is 5 min, and the runout venting time is less than 5 min, then even reducing last runout venting time to a hypothetical zero would not balance the system.
Another point, "slowing the system". Adding a main vent will shorten heatup time (decrease boiler-on time); but to get an outlying rad significantly into balance, even after generous main venting, one may have to slow the other vents. This will increase the boiler-on time, possibly to more than original time, depending on specific case.
Third point, a vacuum can be employed to eliminate venting time on heatup cycle. It allows steam to travel everywhere very fast (still limited a bit if cold pipes); thus providing balance;
I thought we were generally agreed on these points—-except perhaps for questioning the "mains venting clears main before runouts begin venting", which wasn't questioned before.

Re: Myers C48D53B86 jet pump- Help
Some older automotive radiator drain petcocks are a wingnut style.
McMaster-Carr