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one pipe steam problems!!!!!
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Charles J. Hills
Member Posts: 29
Just a homeowner here with steam heat myself. But I like to keep it simple. Steam travels to the point of least resistance does it not? No heat in the downstairs but warm enough in the up stairs means there is a restriction going to the downstairs rads. Find it. I feel it may be in the pipe at a 90* bend the most likly spot for a clog. Perhaps because you can get them all hot one at a time but not all all at the same time it would be a clog close to the furnace but after the main to the upstairs rads. Maybe check for a rusted out pipe to the dnstairs main where steam may must bleed out a little bit. Just a couple of suggestions.
Best of luck.
Charles J. Hills
Best of luck.
Charles J. Hills
0
Comments
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steam heat problems
I can't get steam to all my radiators at once. Throughout the process of trying to fix problem, all of the radiators have gotten hot, so i'm guessing that there is nothing blocked. If I close the rads on the second floor, I can force the steam to the first floor, but not enough to heat the first floor to allow the thermostat to reach temp. to shut off. When i turn on the 2nd floor radiators, they heat up great, but the 1st floor stays cold....MY BOILER HAS BEEN RUNNING NON STOP FOR 2 WEEKS!!! Ive owned my home for 10 yrs., and it has always, in the past, heated evenly.
Here's what I've tried so far....
I've checked all of the radiator vents, and they seem to be working properly. I've adjusted the vents to be more opened, more closed, every way! The slope of each radiator is ok, even exaggerated on a few, the slope of the pipes in the basement seem ok,... but still can't get the 1st floor hot. The pressuretrol is set at 1 cut in, and 2.5 at cut out. I have tried changing the settings to a higher cut in, lower cut in. I removed several radiators to see if there was a clog somewhere. I tipped them, and a minimal amount of dirty water was there(less than a quarter cup), I turned on the valve while i had the radiator off, and steam came out. All the pipes are insulated. I've had 3 techs here, 2 were gas company techs, one of which is the tech that wired the burner after I replaced the spark controller and burner blower fan. When i first started the boiler in November it wasn't making the jet engine like sound when it was running like it used to. I didn't pay it any mind because everything seemed to be working...until it started getting colder, and the boiler wasn't keeping up. I think the tech reversed the hook up on the blower fan, because it just didn't seem to sound right, so after exhausting every option, I reversed the direction of the blower, and it's definately more of the jet engine sound now, but the heating problem persists! I called the gas co., and the tech had no idea what the heating problem is, but suggested raising the pressure...(knuckleheads!!), the 3rd, is a heating company tech, $82.00 per hour!!! ouch!! He seemed to know a little, he measured all the rads., and determined that my system is appropriately sized, and there are enough radiators to heat my home, which is 2100 square foot two story colonial. He suggested a new burner, $1500. I'm a little nervous about going that route because it seems to be getting steam, so I'm guessing it's hot enough, just not circulating properly. IS THAT A BURNER PROBLEM? I called him to tell him about the reversed blower, and he said it could have been the problem all along......but it's still cold on the 1st floor, 58*F, second floor is at least 70*F
The heating system is a Weil-Mclain more than 15 years old, and the burner is a Oertli gas conversion (45000-200000btu).
All the main steam lines off the boiler are hot.
I need to know what is the correct direction of the blower, clockwise, counter clockwise? Does the roar of the blower tell me the correct direction? It's easy to switch back and forth.
Pressuretrol settings?
PLEASE HELP!!!...IT'S COSTING ME A FORTUNE TRYING TO KEEP MY HOME WARM!!!0 -
water
How often do you have fill the boiler with water? Do you see steam coming out of the chimney?0 -
How many zones do you have? If your second floor is 70^ and your first floor is 58^ then did you already try to close the vents almost all the way on all the rads on the second floor and keep the vents on the first open completely? You said all the rads get hot . . Are the rads on the first floor not hot enough? Maybe you need more radiation on the first floor or bigger rads. If this is a new problem I can't see that the guys on this forum won't find the answer for you.0 -
not losing water...chimney is clear, no white smoke, nothing0 -
single zone, one pipe system. I have tried adjusting vents every way ...just not getting hot enough on 1st floor to shut off thermostat0 -
And the boiler's running right now?0 -
How was last heating season? Did anything change in the room with the thermostat?0 -
There could be clogging on some risers branching to the radiators on the first floor. Those rads could be getting hot only because of conduction heating.0 -
don't want to sound stupid..............but what is a riser0 -
the house was closed up for a couple of years....last time it ran , it was fine0 -
Branching pipes that leave the main pipe and travel horizontally and vertically to reach the radiators. It's like a tree. The trunk is the main and the branches are the risers. The leaves are the radiators
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So was it just "opened" up again this past spring or summer or fall? This may be vital info, I don't know for sure.0 -
boiler hasn't stopped running!0 -
opened up this fall........did many renovations, but didn;t touch heating, piping, nothing structural, just cosmetic
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risers are all hot
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is there a "releasing steam cycle" that could be out of sync? anything i can adjust to keep the steam in the radiators longer0 -
Radiator vents
What type of radiator vents do you have?
Lower from 1 psi to 1/2PSI on the pressuretrol.
Why exactly does the heating contractor want to replace the burner? He seemed to be thorough. I seem to think there may have been a reason. What Boiler/Burner Model#'s?
Cosmo0 -
Cosmetic?
Please explain cosmetic renovations, what exactly was done?
Cosmo0 -
The heating system is a Weil-Mclain more than 15 years old, and the burner is a Oertli gas conversion (45000-200000btu). I tried it at 1/20 -
painting new cabinets new ceramic floors, new windows0 -
It's not complicated if it's a one-pipe system. It's complicated to get it to work right but fairly simple to look at. All you can control is your pressure, the rad venting, and the cleanliness of your boiler water. These are basic items a homeowner can control. That's what I work on and if something else is a muck I search here. Since many people have already come to look at the problem and they have come up with nothing then I feel quite stumped as far as my spoonful of knowledge concerning steam systems goes. 58^ and 70^ are a BIG difference. Look to hire one of these pros on the pro search page to fix this cryptogram of a problem. It may be something very simple to fix and of course it must be STAT if your boiler is running non-stop.0 -
adjustable vents , I've tried setting the ones near boiler to lower settings and higher to the others.......many different combinations over the last two weeks0 -
Thermostat could be bad, no?0 -
thank you for trying......no one near by to call. I've checked the directory, and not many Steam specialists in western MA0 -
If the vents are working like they seem to be then the steam will get caught in the rads since steam will stay there until it gives it's latent energy to become condensate and return to the boiler if all the pitch is proper. There is no steam release cycle.0 -
never gets warm enough in the room to raise temp, so i think thermostat is ok0 -
Ah Western, MA. I'm in Worcester. Where are you located?0 -
do you think it COULD be a pressure problem?? seems to get hot enough , just not enough steam to go around0 -
Because of the stagnancy of the system's running time over the years it was not used, maybe som corrosion had it's sweet time to build up considerably and cause the blockage in some key areas.0 -
Where's the water level at on the gauge glass?0 -
If you pull a vent do you get steam
and is it possible that the valves got shut and didn't open??0 -
I thought of that too........but why over the last two weeks of playing with it, i've been able to get every radiator hot....just not all at once. It's like a giant rubiks cube!0 -
a little below half. but i've tried at several levels over time0 -
i have removed all of the vents,and no air or steam escapes. I blew through them, and they seemed to release air under pressure. i have replaced several with adjustable vents. how would the fail to open?
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Westfield........5 below last night!0 -
what bothers me
That it heated well originally.
No explanation from you why your heating contractor suggested new burner?
After determining that the boiler is big enough, and system has been offline for an undetermined amount of time. I would go through and flush the condensate drains, and skim the boiler. Clean out the pig-tail.
Make sure the burner is working correctly and is providing enough BTU's. You can also clock the gas meter and check to see how many btu's of gas is going through the burner.
How quickly are the mains heating?
You may need the correct radiator vents. I have always had good luck using Gorton radiator vents. They are non adjustable. You may need to find the right combination, but generally you use #4's near the Tstat, #5s on radiators closer to the boiler, and bigger vents as you move further away. It may take some trial and error. You can find a good balancing article in Books and more.
But you must make sure the boiler is working correctly before blaming anything else. Basics man, basics!
Cosmo0 -
not blaming anything......just trying to get my house warm. I've had 4 techs look so far, and no help.....so I'm grasping at anything now!!0 -
He means the angle valves at the floor level. They might have lost their packing and it jammed the inlet. You said the steam came out of the angle valves when you removed the rads, right? You also said no steam comes out of the 1/8" port where the vent goes when you removed the vents, right?0 -
no intention to offend
I am just asking questions
Cosmo0 -
Cosmo is on the money. Here's where I fade away. . . .0
This discussion has been closed.
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