Completely lost, just need a place to start

Brad White_9

you have non-ferrous (copper-aluminum) convectors in a two-pipe steam or vapor system. May be a Trane system or may be any number of variations. As stated, photos may help both of a typical radiator/convector and the near-boiler piping.

You seem to have come to the right place!

Things to check-

At what pressure does it now run? (Less is better, really.)

Are the pipes insulated? (Abated of asbestos, naked piping is a drag.)

Are there traps (a device the size of a small tangerine for want of a description) on the returns of the convectors?

Are there vents on the convectors and mains?

Just a few things to look at. Help is on the way. You just wait.

Where are you located by the way?

Samas

Can't quite figure out what beast I'm dealing with

To all, please forgive this blatant and brazen call for help. I've tried to look through this site to get some bearing on problems I have with my steam heating, will certainly try Dan's homeowners' guide, but I'm getting flustered with just trying to find a starting point. I don't have much experience with this stuff (first house) but am willing to learn basics and more than willing to call up the pros when needed. Hence, the post here.

We live in a sixty year old Cape Cod with a 20-odd year old boiler that our heating utility guys say is healthy (they do yearly checkups on the boiler; this year's is due in a few days actually). It is some kind of steam heat, in some kind of system, forgive my ignorance. Like I mentioned above, I have tried to determine what the heck it all is with varying degrees of success/failure. It appears to be some kind of indirect/radiant/kind-of-baseboard system, although the radiators are somewhat unlike any descriptions I can find and not like the typical cast-iron behemoths. To the best of my descriptive ability, there are one or two radiators in each room of the house, each simply a large metal rectangle about three and half feet to four feet high with a vent and damper across the top. The visible piping underneath has one pipe coming in on one side and one on the other side. I've taken one of the radiator's 'cover' off to look at its innards and the crux of things seem to be the aforementioned 'supply' pipe that splits thrice with fins all the way across and then goes back to one 'return' pipe on the other end. Again, my terminology is probably incorrect but this is just for descriptive purposes since I can't for the life of me figure out what all this is.

The problems we have experienced in our two winters so far don't sound atypical, but having no starting position is what is getting me frustrated. Banging/hammering has always been a problem, seemingly worse this year so I want to try to get a handle on that, and gurgling in some radiators/pipes keeps me up at night. I know one solution isn't going to fix all of this, but I'm ready to try to get a handle on things with experts' help. Thanks much for reading and the help.

Unknown

we wallies understand ur pain

We understand your pains... Please excite us wallies with pictures of ur boiler, near pipings and radiators to help you further..

Big Ed

Two Pipe Steam

With convectors..Very rare in your type and aged home...I never seen one.

Banging or Hammering is caused by steam in contact with cold condensate.. First start with a correct water line. always 1/3 up the glass tube .....Gauge glass.. Make sure the pressure in not jacked up..Also check the piping ,needs to be pitched as so condensate could run back to the boiler

Samas

Holy cow

Wow, you guys are awesome. Three responses in less than an hour. I'm fairly certain you've all hit the nail on the head as far as what I've got (either I describe well enough or you guys just know your stuff; I think the latter), but I will provide pictures tonight. The wife is away this weekend so I have nothing better to do than play around with the heat, so to speak.

Brad, we're located in Elizabethtown, PA, about a half hour east of Harrisburg. There are no valves, devices, or hoodie-hoes on the convectors/radiators at all. This is a source of much confusion for me. The main line (at least what I think is the main line) is insulated by happy fun asbestos, although undisturbed and out of the way.

Ed, I understand the point about the gauge glass, however I've never gotten a straight answer on this: is opening the valve to drain the nasty water out help with settling the gauge where it needs to be? I try to do this monthly-ish as I've been told by the utility guys, but in doing so I swear I've seen the gauge go up/down/willynilly when I open the valve. I would think if I'm draining water out the gauge should go...um, down. I'm also not surprised to hear that my house's setup is a bit non-standard. It seems I find this kind of thing common whenever I research my own house.

Thanks again all.

Brad White_9

Divine Bovine!

Glad this is working for you!

There have to be some steam pros in your area. I would ping Dave Yates at Behler in York. Not to say that there are not others... The Pompetti's are in the Phila. area, probably too far.

It would not be a stretch if you found a competent pipefitter who may not know steam (yet) but be willing to learn. Thus are steam pros made sometimes...