Couple of questions

rcrit

My 1-pipe, undersized boiler is doing a fair job of keeping my house warm these days, just have a couple of questions.



1. Not all of the basement pipes are well insulated, particularly the joints. Some of the risers were uninsulated and I used some R19 I had lying around to give them a blanket. Is this a decent short-term solution?



2. My 3rd floor (of 3) office has lots of computers which generate enough heat for me. There is a radiator that has gotten warm in the past. Today I noticed it wasn't warm despite the low 30's outside. I pulled off the vent and water poured out of it. After shaking it out and replacing it the radiator got nice and hot. What could cause this? I should note that the pipe leading to the radiator is pitched nicely but has no insulation on it (to be fixed later, I ran out of R19).

nicholas bonham-carter

computers ate my radiator!!!

check your pressure if you have found a sudden difference in the behaviour of any radiator. you could have a plugged pressuretrol which is causing high pressure, and that in turn is causing the vents to malfunction. of course the vents may be malfunctioning on their own.--nbc

Jamie Hall

The R19

is a perfectly good solution.  How long a term it is good for has much more to do with whether you mind the look of it than anything else!

Steamhead

Probably wet steam

check the water in the boiler to see if it has gotten dirty. With the new main vents in place, the steam is circulating faster and probably washing dirt and oil back to the boiler.

rcrit

more water in vents

I have two radiators on my third floor. Today I discovered that both vents were filled with water. I'm not sure how I can tell if the radiator itself is full of water. I blew into one and it breathed the air back out at me and I didn't hear any gurgling.



I blew down the boiler and it didn't look particularly dirty to me. It was a little brown briefly but quickly cleared up. I let it run long enough to test the low-water cutoff (and it worked). I don't have much of a basis for comparison since I've only owned the house for 3 months now. Compared to the first few times I blew the boiler down this water was downright potable. I literally had chunks of goop coming out the first 3 or 4 times.



I haven't gotten a chance to test the pigtail yet, maybe later this week. The 20" of snow we got this weekend has been keeping me busy :-)

Steamhead

It may need to be skimmed

if oil has gotten on top of the water. This can be harder to see than the usual sludge. Gordon and I can handle this for you.