is there any way to reduce radiator whistling?

lost in steam

Hi all. I had to have my steam boiler replaced last year. To make a long story short, the guy who owned the house before had taken out some radiators b/c he felt it was too hot. when they went to put in the new boiler, they couldn't get one small enough for the # of raidiators i have. they did a couple things, but since my radiators are very loud, meaning a lot of air rushing out of the vents and whistling. i have all new valves on them, they were replaced by the company who installed the boiler. i don't know what type they are--i did some research on the hoffmans, and they aren't that. they are more like a cylindar with a flater top with a slot for an opening. to adjust them, you use a coin to loosen the top then adjust the setting (from 1-10) on a dial then tigten the top back down.

since they put these on for "free" i assume they can't be top of the line. would these hoffman 1a ones help reduce the whistling? or is this unavoidable with my oversized boiler.

Steve Garson_2

Tony:

I had a similar problem after my new boiler went in. For me, the problem of whistling was only on some of my radiators. By using a Vaporstat instead of the Pressuretrol, I reduced the high limit pressure from ~1.5psi down to around 6 ounces. I noticed the whistling was happening at the higher pressure.

The problem isn't gone, but is more acceptable. The next step is to reduce the firing rate of the boiler. I have a WM SGO-4 with a 1.10 gph nozzle. The lowest I can drop without a soot problem is to 1.0 gph. So I am having my oil company install the new nozzle and I expect it to solve the problem. My boiler runs only 12 minutes an hour on a zero degree day, so the reduction in fuel shouldn't be a problem. But you need a pro to do this.

The vaportrol cost $180 online.

will smith_4

Tony-just so you know

The adjustables are more expensive than the set ports. The set port has a fixed opening size, the adjustable allows you to vary the port size/rate at which air can vent.

lost in steam

thanks

thanks for the info. what i didn't say was that my oil company installed it, and after having trouble i found this site, which has cured me of ever having them do anything and get a pro. i have located a good pro and maybe i will ask him about it.