Steam gurgling/perculating; vertical riser issue? Help...!

clammy

ron l

Ron is right on target with that suggestion.If you would like to me check your system out and give it a look see feel free to contact me by e mail RDEUZA@aol.com Again i can really thank dan h and all who contruibit to this site by sharing there knoweledge and experences which help every one from the home owner to the guys in the field .All of them are truely the best of the best and there ain't no 2 ways about it .Peace and good luck clammy

RonL

Ball Valves

One question I have. Is it common practice in some parts to put ball valves on risers and returns?

Dave_86

It is, if you want to be able to close off all boiler exits and build up 5-10 pounds of steam so you can pressure-clean it.

Dave_86

Resolution coming...

Just in case anyone wondered, clammy came by and will return (I hope) to relocate one of the main vents and check for problems in the returns. In the long run it will probably have to be redone yet again to dry out the steam; I definitely hear the sounds in some radiators of steam bubbling up through water, which I guess would not happen if the steam contained less water! Sure hope that solves the problem.

The vertical riser that goes to the most consistently noisy radiator makes a ton of noise through the wall at times... it would be good if the system made its trademark 4 am noises on demand.

I've even been wondering about hot water conversion since repiping isn't guaranteed to work.

clammy

final soultions

ok here we go after check dave's system out and spending some time running a few math formulas i 've found that dave existing velocity is about 30 fps so would gather that flushing and snaking returns and stuff will not fix this wet supply steam even though there no banging short cycling it seems to be just a poor quality of steam making out to the system and that far rad is only left with alot of wet steam and it's just condensating in the riser and rad .I will break the bad news to him when he returns my call thanks to all for your knoweledge which always hummbles me and our host who brings like minded people together again thanks peace and good luck clammy

Dave_86

Well, I got your posting before the phone call, but I can't say I'm surprised after our discussion. I recall your saying something about the large volume of water overwhelming the pipes, and that would indeed have the same effect, I suspect, as a mud blockage. The installer is showing up Friday or Saturday, but I'm not expecting anything, so I'll be asking for a refit price by e-mail.

Dave_86

Solution?

The installer arrived...here's what happened since I last posted.

1) The header was rebuilt to specifications. No change!
2) The radiator was flushed thoroughly. No change!
3) The lines were flushed and then reverse flushed. No change!

Then he knocked off the end of the return and put in a vent there, making the dry return into a wet return. Did not help but he got a good look into the 1" return pipe - perfectly clear.

In the end, the solution APPEARS to be - knocking down the boiler output! This is one of the things I wondered about from the start based on Dan's "overfired" note and the main difference between the new and old systems. We went from 170,000 BTU to about 140,000 and it seems to have made the world of difference.

I'll let you know one way or the other whether this did it, but it's worth noting for the future. This was a hideous gurgling and panting problem, and there were a LOT of things that could have been a problem, from blockages in the pipes to one pipe that's sagging but exceedingly hard to reach to noninsulated pipes in the walls to the nonstandard header... and I appreciate your time and help, and hope we've got it now!