Radiators Ventin Main Despite Gorton 2

Steamhead (in transit)

the only steam main in the house?

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SusanC

Radiators venting main despite Gorton 2

How could one best prevent or cut down on the radiators venting the main despite Gorton 2 main vent. Of two mains, this is particularly noticeable on the main which is first off the header. The main is approx. 33 ft. long with 30 additional ft. of dry return to Gorton 2, which is 15 inches back from end of return as recommended.

The especially noticeable radiator venting starts before pressure starts to rise as measured by 15 psi. gauge. I believe pressure starts to rise as that Gorton 2 closes; however it seems that a lot of radiator venting is taking place before the Gorton 2 has closed and before any noticeable pressure rise.

SusanC

One of two mains...

No, Its one of 2 mains and is the first one off the header. Each has a Gorton-2 located 15 inches back from end of horizontal dry return. The one I wrote about is the longer of the two. It has approx. 33 ft. of main and 30 ft of horizontal dry return. The shorter main is approx 19 ft with approx 12 ft. of horizontal dry return. This shorter main has two relatively long branches (11 and 16 ft.). The long main has shorter branches.

Radiators on the longer main that I was originally writing about seem especially to be venting this main before it closes on steam, which I am assuming it is doing when the round portion gets steam hot and pressure starts to rise.

The short main has a different problem; its Gorton 2 seems to be having an increasingly hard time venting. I never used to hear anything from this vent (which I understand is good). Its connector on the return gets very hot a slight bit before the Gorton 2 connector on the long main return, as I would expect; however it appears that then, strangely enough, the Gorton 2 on the long main becomes steam hot and closes well before the Gorton 2 on the short main, which lately tends to audibly vent until it becomes steam hot after 1 or 2 or 3 off/on pressure cycles. (Incidentally, for various reasons I have lower numbered Gortons on most of the radiators on this short main than on the long main radiators.)

Yes, I have a short-cycling on pressure problem very much like the ones I have seen described on this site regarding new boilers. So as not to get overly complicated in my question and consequently in my description, I tried to isolate one aspect of the system in my question although I realize everything is interrelated. (Incidentally, the Gorton 2’s are new this heating season as is the boiler.)

Steamhead (in transit)

This might sound totally unrelated

but there are a couple of things you need to have checked:

1- Has the boiler's water side been properly cleaned? Dirty water can make the steam do strange things out in the system.

2- Have the radiator valve packings been checked for leakage? If they leak steam, they also leak air on startup. If they don't leak steam they can still leak air on startup, then expand so steam doesn't leak. This may explain why some rads get steam too quickly even with smaller vents. The cure for this is to tighten the packing nut, and if the stem is still loose add packing under the nut.

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