my radiators sound like the wind!

waylandpat

I recently moved into a home with a steam system.  for the first two months there were two radiators that didn't omit heat regularly. the rest worked great.  the two in question are the two farthest away from the boiler.  one of them is on the third floor and you can feel a section of the vertical pipe where it stops being warm.  I don't know if it possible to have a vertical blockage or what. 



after flooding from last week's storm we had to replace the boiler's motor.  when we did that and fired up the system, the two radiators mentioned started working perfectly.  But within a day or so, they had become more intermittent.  many of the other radiators in the house also started making a noise that sounds like wind coming out of them.  we tried to use shims and make sure that each radiator is property sloped back to the pipe, but the issue appears to be persisting.  this never happened before  Our pressure gauge measures around 1.0 so we don't think that could be the cause, but aren't sure.  any ideas?

Chris M_2

Motor or Whole Burner?

I can't see how a motor replacement could make a difference.  Are you sure the whole burner wasn't replaced? That's the only way I could see there being a difference (new burner, better fire, faster steam).  Regarding the two farthest radiators not getting hot, try restricting the vents (if they're adjustable) on the rads that are closer to the boiler, and opening (or replacing altogether with newer, bigger vents) the ones on the farthest radiators.  Steam will more or less take the path of least resistance. If you make the path to the farthest radiators less resistant, you'll encourage the steam to head to them faster. It's important to know that the vents are not the valves.. The vents are up high on the radiator, making the hissing noise. The valves are down low, and need to be opened all the way to let steam into the radiator.

Chris M_2

Motor or Whole Burner?

I can't see how a motor replacement could make a difference.  Are you sure the whole burner wasn't replaced? That's the only way I could see there being a difference (new burner, better fire, faster steam).  Regarding the two farthest radiators not getting hot, try restricting the vents (if they're adjustable) on the rads that are closer to the boiler, and opening (or replacing altogether with newer, bigger vents) the ones on the farthest radiators.  Steam will more or less take the path of least resistance. If you make the path to the farthest radiators less resistant, you'll encourage the steam to head to them faster. It's important to know that the vents are not the valves.. The vents are up high on the radiator, making the hissing noise. The valves are down low, and need to be opened all the way to let steam into the radiator.

JStar

Boiler specs.

How many BTUH output is the boiler? Do you have pictures of the near boiler piping? Can you get pictures of the problem radiators, count the columns and take measurements of width, height, and depth? Can you also see where the troubled radiator supply pipes take off of the steam main? Do they stay the same size the whole way, or are the radiator valves a smaller size than the pipe closest to the main?