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flow restriction?

kevin coppinger_4
kevin coppinger_4 Member Posts: 2,124
is it an old gravity system....

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Comments

  • Timco
    Timco Member Posts: 3,040


    After pulling the next set of rads from my 4-plex, the front rad with 1 1/4" nipples had a small disc in the valve that reduced the flow to 1/2"...in the union. Is this done to balance the system after converting from gravity?

    Tim

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    Just a guy running some pipes.
  • Timco
    Timco Member Posts: 3,040


    yes, converted some time ago...ooooooold B&G pump on the floor next to boiler.

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    Just a guy running some pipes.
  • Brad White_75
    Brad White_75 Member Posts: 15
    Q&A on Gravity HW Systems

    I agree with Kevin- most likely gravity...

    See this:

    http://www.heatinghelp.com/heating_howcome1.cfm

    It pays to wander off the wall...

    About a third of the way down.
    Excerpted below:


    Q: So the top floors tend to heat more quickly than the bottom floors in a gravity system?
    A: Yes, and that leads to system imbalance.

    Q: How did the old-timers get around this problem?
    A: They sometimes added orifice plates to the top-floor radiator hand valves. Here's what one looks like.

    [Plates] See Photo in Link

    Q: What exactly is an orifice plate?
    A: It's a round piece of metal with a small hole drilled through its center. You could make one yourself out of sheet metal; most of the old-timers made their own.

    Q: How did the orifice plate direct the water?
    A: By increasing the resistance through the radiator it was assigned to. If water found it difficult to enter, say, a top-floor radiator because of the orifice plate, it would go to a radiator on a lower floor instead. In this sense, the orifice plate was similar to the "O-S" and "Monoflo" fitting. The big difference, however, was that instead of directing the water into the radiator it was assigned to, an orifice plate directed the water away from that radiator.
  • Steamhead (in transit)
    Steamhead (in transit) Member Posts: 6,688
    \"ooooooold B&G pump on the floor next to boiler\"

    Betcha that pump is oversized. How many square feet EDR is on that system (EDR, not the building's heat loss calc)?

    Read this too:

    http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=125

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  • yep,,,

    Thanks to Dan H on the story about the radiators flow restrctors... Shortly after reading the article, a woman called and said she was having overheating problem on 2nd floor and never had it happens in her 6 years living there.... I asked her how did the floor refinishing job go and she freaked out like I was into some goverment conspiracy of gettin into people's private life... I explained to her that when the refinishing job in progress, they removed the radiators to avoid ugly spot under neath the units, doing it so, the restrictor often fall out unknowliy what it for get chucked.. til next heating season..
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