cold rads

johnpen

i have a 2 inch pipe  starts off very hot you cant touch. 10ft starts cooling off and as you go down then pipe gets colder and colder. all rads from that point dont work. the 2 iinch pipe cant be plugged what do you think? they worked 08-09 heating season this is a 2 pipe system.

Unknown

Main Vents

Have you checks your main vents? Do you have an F&T trap at the end of the main?

- Rod

johnpen

COLD RADS

not sure on the vents f&t? this is a commerical building 2 story all the rads heat up in a certain order an odd one at that. the 5 rads that dont heat are the closest to the boiler  they worked last year the apartment next to us just told us theirs didnt work 2 of them these are med size rads. and we own the building we have one the other is on the first floor we our on the 2nd floor. going to check on the vents tomorrow my wife is reading the book all ABOUT STEAM HEAT AND THE OTHER ONE AND SHE UNDERSTANDS IT SHE IS HELPING FIND PROBLEM AND WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE LOOK AT BESIDES VENTS

Steamhead

It's possible

water is backing up in the returns and blocking the steam mains. This can also cause banging. Have you tried the Find a Professional page of this site? 

johnpen

cold rads

will check that out how would you fix that do get banging when the steam about ready to come up

Steamhead

Replace

the return lines. 

johnpen

cold rads

thats all you can do?  would not be cheap to replace then ,

nicholas bonham-carter

2-pipe problems

time to check all the aspects of the system, to find the source of the problem:

1. check your pressure-should be under 1.5 psi [under 12 ounces for saving money].

2. check the main venting [the air has to get out for the steam to do its job].

3. check the thermostat for anticipation.

4. check whatever has changed since last season.

5. check back here.--nbc

Steamhead

Assuming that's the problem

replace them. If they're old steel pipe they are probably clogged. This is about the only place on a steam system where copper piping is an advantage- it doesn't clog like steel can.



Also, if they're underground, they're probably leaking too. Buried steel return lines are guilty until proven innocent.

johnpen

cold rads

we live in south east iowa and cant find anyone that knows about steam heat they think they do but dont. does anyone know of someone in this area  not having any luck with the rads  still not working

Unknown

Cold Rads

I'm afraid you're in a rather difficult predicament here. It's sort of like you telling us your car doesn't run and asking us what you need to do to fix it and we can't help you much as we don't know what type of car you have and what has been done to it since it left the factory.

That's why we're trying to encourage you to seek out the advice of a pro that is local to you.



When was the last time you steam systems was serviced? You mentioned you wife had some steam books? Let us know what the titles are so we can refer you (if we have the books)  to specific pages in the books.  I'm not really sure how we can help you. Perhaps the first thing to do is for you to take a look at your steam system and see if you can recognize the different components. I've attached a drawing of the typical 2 pipe system. Do you recognize similar components on your system?

Steamhead, who is one of the best steam pros in the business, suggested you need to check out your returns. Do these go underground?  Also have you been able to find your main vents? 

- Rod

Matthew Grallert

re cold rads

John sent some pictures.  We really love pictures and they are a big help.

johnpen

guess what on cold rads

hello iam the wife i bought the books we got steam heat  and lost art of steam heat and  pocketful of steam problems. i have read this books and can truly say i understand a lot ot it  hubby didnt read them. very good books going to get the new one green something. these books were great i enjoyed them alot so between the two of us we worked on the pipes of course hubby didnt believe me about anything so by of going down the list the last thing he checked was the first thing he should have checked was return line which was plugged, lots of water and murky ick came out the pipe got warm right away. turned on the boiler and we now have heat in the rads that were not working (so far anyway.) i think he will listen to me now plus supper out tonight dont you think. i want to thank you for your help it was most helpful so does that make be me smarter than hubby. i bought the books  thank you so much for your help.     penny

Unknown

Fantastic!

Hi Penny-   Good for you! I'm so glad to hear that your steam system is working again. Having a new "steam pro" in your family will be a great help!  Steam is a bit confusing at first but once you study your system and the books a bit, it becomes easier to understand. If you need any answers to your questions be sure to come back to this website. You might also want to take a look in what is called "Off the Wall' on this website as there are a lot of interesting articles there by Dan Holohan who wrote your steam books.  Go to "Resources" at the top of this page and look there.  Make sure hubby takes you somewhere nice for dinner, he owes his new "steam pro" big time!

- Rod