Maximum Venting Q for G. Gill, et al.

Patrick_North

So I read the e-book "balancing a steam system..." and am intrigued, but I have a question. If you maximize the main venting would it then be especially important to vent the risers? I've got a three story house with one pipe steam. It sounds like if I max out the main venting this may exaggerate any lag in 1st and 3rd floor rads heating up- is this true?

Having a rough day- boiler kicked on for the first time today and the new wall rad I had powdercoated (and had C. Egli mill lefty plugs for!) leaks at every section. Woe is me.

Thanks for any input, guys.

Patrick North

Steamhead

Short answer is

"It depends".



One factor would be how much air is displaced downward as the steam reaches the runout to the riser. Steam is lighter than air.



We usually don't have to use riser vents on anything under four stories, but there are cases where it has helped.

gerry gill

you could if it seems like you need to.

steam doesn't know horizontal from vertical..it just knows its looking for the vents..or as  i like to say, its just looking for a way to get out of the pipe..but if those risers also serve very very short runouts to radiators you'll have to use very small vents on those rads.