Steam ??? with pics

Shane_2

I think I know the answer to my question, but I'll ask anyway.

Was called in for a steam system (loud, high gas bills, not heating evenly). New boiler, installed in last 3 years. Copper header, no true equalizer, no hartford loop, one riser capped.

Repiped near boiler piping using both risers, a drop header, a real hartford loop, corrected pitch issues on system piping, dropped cut-in pressure from 7 psi to .5, insulated steam mains, skimmed, replaced main vents, and quite a few radiator vents.

System piping is one pipe gravity, parallel flow, with dry returns.

OK my question/problem is regarding the customer's family room ( the coldest room in the house and one of the main reasons I was hired). Near boiler piping is complete, boiler is quiet, rest of house is heating great, I just can't seem to get heat to these three convectors. Checked and rechecked pitch for supply and return piping.

The supply for these three is 1 1/2", the dry return is 1".
The other two supplies from the header are 2 1/2" and 2".

I will most likely replace the main with two inch. I was hoping some of you great people might have another suggestion.

Thank You for you time.

Shane F

nicholas bonham-carter

convector problemss

nice looking pipe-job! is the boiler sized properly for the current radiation?

have you tried firing it with the convectors' vents REMOVED [preferably with small ball valves to close as the steam hits], and a JUMPER on the thermostat to keep it on? if you try that, and you get heat in the convectors, then that would point to a venting problem. if they do not heat up adequately, then you could suspect a supply pipe size problem.

you might find that this convector line is still removing some air from the main, as the thermostat is just satisfied.if you look at this page on venting, you may deceide to further increase the main venting [can you ever have too much?]:

http://www.gwgillplumbingandheating.com/webapp/GetPage?pid=415

you could also lower your pressure from present settings, [can you ever have too low a pressure?].

there is some discussion on here about problems arising from mixing convectors [with lower thermal mass] and radiators. maybe a search using the button on the orange banner would reveal some of the work-a-rounds [can you ever have too much information from here?].--nbc

JB_8

bull head tee

I think you have a bull head tee.

Long Beach Ed

On the Mark...

I believe Nicholas is right on the mark there. Assuming that the boiler is sized properly, that an uninsulated pipe isn't going through a cold area, improper pitch, etc, you have a balancing problem.

You can probably increase the venting in the cold rooms or hold back the venting in the hot ones...

Follow Nicholas' advice. Take the vents off the cold radiators and see what happens. Slow the vents on the hot ones.

Jim Bennett

Sweet.......

header piping! It's a shame to cover such nice work, but if it was all insulated your steam might travel farther, faster.

Shane_2

Yes, I did run the system without the rad vent in place. I got some air, but not what I would have expected. I also tried without the main vent for that return. Again, some air, but not the steam or velocity I would have expected.

Also, the header and mains have been insulated, the vents have been moved 12-14" back from the drops to the wet return. The drops on the right side of the photo were piped straight down. That picture was taken at the end of day one, and I had to get the heat on.

Thank you all again for your input

Shane F