Best Of
Re: Ancient Boiler System
thank you all for your help. I’ve found some local professionals that worked with the previous owner (older lady that lived in the home) and know the system in and out. They are coming today to help me fix the issues.
LDS1616
Re: Steam coming from the main vent
@edplu, we've started a new discussion for you here. Welcome to Heating Help!
Re: Gloves or no gloves when doing service?
Between grime, health hazards from chemicals, burns, and cuts leading to infections, gloves are a good idea if they don't get in the way of doing something necessary. Not too many opportunities to wash hands at most job sites.
I worked with many different types of paint and chemicals as a teenager without gloves before getting into a mostly office job the past 20+ years and the exposure from my youth is increasingly evident on the affected skin as I've aged. The damage from exposure to things doesn't always show up right away, but it is there.
Waher
Re: Single pipe steam. Inlet side hot. Vent side cold. Should radiator fins all heat up at same time?
In order to make it easier for all of the folks here to be on the same page, including the seasoned professionals all the way up to the first time steam system owner, I would like to clarify the terms that may be misunderstood when I see them used incorrectly. This is not to be demeaning in any way, I just believe that when you know the correct term for something, it is easier for all those reading this conversation to eliminate any confusion.
When @CoachBoilermaker uses the term Fin or Fins, I believe they are actually referring to a radiator section. The term Fin usually refers to the thin sheet metal sections of a convector or a baseboard radiator that increases the heating surface area of a piece of pipe that is holding the hot steam or water as shown here:
In these photos above, the left photo is a copper pipe with aluminum fins that are enclosed in a metal housing designed to cause air currents to flow across the fins and pipe to cause convection heat to enter the room. Item #6 are the Fins.
On the right photo is a cast iron radiator that has no fins. There are 16 sections that make up that radiator. 14 intermediate sections and 2 end sections with legs so the radiator can be installed as a free standing radiator in the room that will be heated by the radiator.
Re: Troubleshooting a mystery... leak/flow reported with no physical leak found. Expansion Tank/Indirect
Try food coloring in your toilet tanks to make sure they aren't running? Sometimes its so minor you cant hear it.
Robertw
New Video: How to make your steam boiler last forever
Nothing in this video we don't already know, but for the last year I only added boiled or distilled water to my boiler, and kept the PH high as usual and the results were better than I expected:
https://youtu.be/Bx8NryCUkng
Re: How can you drill and tap a radiator vent hole and still use the original 1/8" vent size?
I’d say the vent is either working or was working recently. The discolored paint is a dead giveaway something gaseous has been coming out of it.
KC_Jones
Re: Mysterious cold radiator
The pitch of the pipe that is feeding that radiator may be incorrect. If there is a sag in the pipe then condensation that is trying to return to the boiler may be trapped in there partially blocking the path for the steam to get to the radiator. Look close at the pipe between the main and the radiator to see if the horizontal pipe maintains a constant pitch of 1" per 10 feet sloping downwards from the radiator to the main.
There are stories about how a home owner used the steam pipe to hang a heavy bag for working out or using it to hang all kinds of stuff like a swing for the 4 year old. When the kid grew up to be 16, and weight in at 190#, the radiator stoped working.
Re: How to size my Circulator pump ?
@EdTheHeaterMan Thank you so much ED. It would be so hard without you.
This was draining my energy. It is now way easier.
