Vents

scrook_2

http://www.heatinghelp.com/shopcart/product.cfm?category=2-138

THIS PRODUCT IS AN E-BOOKLET. We will e-mail it to you the next business day after you order it. (Please don't forget to give me your E-mail address when you place your order).

Gerry Gill and Steve Pajek know steam heating inside and out. They understand that to balance steam heating systems (both one-pipe and two-pipe) you have to regulate the movement of air as the steam travels from the boiler to the radiators.
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They then wrote a very understandable, five-page explanation of the methods used to size main vents, radiator vents, and steam traps...

We’re making it available to you as an e-booklet for just $10.

Daniel Cayea

Questions about vents

My home was built somewhere between 1900 and 1920 and four years ago this past October, the original boiler was replaced by a Burnham V8 Series Model 5. The installers did put in a main vent which apparently had been capped by a plug, but the vent they used is the same size as the vents in my radiators throughout my house.

Should that be cause for concern, should the vent they put in be replaced? I believe it is a Hoffman/ITT #40. I have the those Hoffman's throughout the entire house and they are the same type. I am not sure, but I don't believe that they should be all the same type. If I remember the reading correctly, shouldn't the vents be larger the closer they are to the boiler? Or is it the other way around? What should I use and what do you recommend for vents?

Thanks,
Dan

Brad White_191

Vents

Main vents are much, much larger in venting capacity for the most part.

To have this properly done, I would start by getting Gerry Gill and Steve Pajek's e-book on balancing steam systems using a vent capacity chart. SKU is #300 I believe.

You need to know your main sizes and length.

Keep in mind that the mains have to be vented first (get rid of the bulk of that air) before the radiators and the pipes feeding them. The faster you vent your mains, the faster you can heat your radiators.

You may also use this time to take stock of your radiator vents too. They all really want to become hot at about the same time. If they become hot sequentially, this one then the next, you have some venting strategies to consider.

Daniel Cayea

Where do I find that e-book?

I have very slow dialup and I am not unwilling to go looking myself for that book, but it would help a great deal if someone could point me in that direction.