I broke it... I think...

mchema

My pesky one-pipe system has thrown me yet another loop at the start of this season! My heater pro came out to the house serviced my boiler and we discussed the lovely water hammering that I experienced all last winter with my little radiator in the bathroom. We changed the vents so it would vent slower. Only thing a day later the water hammering returned with vengeance!!! So loud this time I thought the wall was going to come apart. Anyway, I put on the old vent I had, still crazy hammering. Then I decided to mess with the pitch.... and here is where something went wrong......... I get NO MORE HEAT in my bathroom rad. Even the pipe is cold in the basement. I tried messing with the pitch again. Still Cold and dead... What the heck happened? This use to be the hottest room in the house, did  not matter what vent I put on it... But there is barely any water hammering occurring. Guess I fixed that :P  What's everyone's suggestion before I call in my steam guy. 

crash2009

Air lock

Just shut it down, remove the vent from the cold bathroom radiator, let the condensate drain for awhile.  About an hour later turn it back on. 

jpf321

i was going to ask...

can you blow easily into the vent hole (cool rad, vent removed)? but I think crash may be onto something .. please follow-up when you get a chance to try 1 or both suggestions. 

mchema

Removal of the

Vent for a time fixed it. It heats up again BUT the horrible water hammering is back. My system is slow loud this year... 

crash2009

When

is the last time you cleaned the boiler?  Skim and blowdown?  I have had to clean mine 4 times since having it serviced.  I have removed all of the sediment and little chunks of metal from the bottom.  I continue to get an oily buildup in the sightglass.  How does yours look?  1-at rest? and 2-when running?

clammy

pesky 1 pipe

Things to check.pitch on your main,is your main vent working,what is your pressuretrol set at and do you have wet or dry returns wet returns could be clogged  and are your steam mains insulated also is your rad properly pitch also have you cheked to make sure your raditor hand valve working properly and letting the condensate drain from the rad .hope this helps peace and good luck clammy

mchema

Just nosie

The system had a major over hall last season. We put on 8 new main vents ( 4 each main). System skimmed, firing rate lowed so the pressure would be lower, and new vent on rads. The system ran well but will mild banging in the rad mentioned above. It was nothing we couldn't sleep through.



 This year the boiler was cleaned again and the rest of the vents were replaced. Since I got heat back to the rad it has just been banging louder and loger. Pitch has been checked. I have tried to vent it fast, med, and slow. It doesn't matter Pipe is leaning toward the rad. I am thinking of taking the rad offline to assess how much give the pipe has and trying to correct it.



the system overall this year is ticking, popping, and just plain noisy. I think that's because there has been huge temperature swings within the system daily. I tend to turn the system down very low at night. I just can't stand hearing the rad banging away at night.



I honestly think I just need to have the floor ripped up and the pipe repitched.

gerry gill

i too believe the pipe pitch

is the issue, and that sometimes the only way to deal with it is to gain access to it and correct the pitch.

BobC

pipe pitch

i had a hall radiator that had a mild water hammer and determined the fault was a short horizontal pipe that was off pitch. I cured it by putting 1/2" shim under vent side and 1/4" under the valve side, that was just enough to let the water drain.



Bob

TomM

valve size

maybe your valve size is too small for the radiator.  OR, if its bushed down, you could get water pooling in a concentric fitting. 

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Valve size to radiator size chart is available in LAOSH.  You'll get water hammer and heating problems if its too small.

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post some pics