How to change Pressuretrol settings?

broloco

Hello. I have a Burnham bolier steam system. The radiators all work good for the most part. However yesterday one of the air vents shot out water once I turned on the heat for the second time this season. I've always felt that my pressure is too high since the radiator air vents tend to hiss a lil violently once I first put on the heat. They eventually stop and all is normal. Plus my psi settings don't seem to be set at the recommended settings after reading a few things here.

 

How does one change the pressuretrol settings assuming they are wrong? After taking off protective cover I've tried pulling the little silver notches down but they don't move.



There's pix below so you can see the actual settings. The internal syphon guage goes up to about 28 psi at peak heating.  (FYI: My house is a small 2 story bungalow, and I've turned off the radiators completely on the second floor because it gets too hot up there.) Can anyone help? Thanks so much! This site is great!



<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/5164213715_daf4a0a20f_z.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/5164213715_daf4a0a20f_z.jpg</a>

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BobC

Pressuretrol adjust

That pressuretrol is adjusted with the screws on the top of the case. The PDF file below has instructions on page 7.



Ideally you would set the pressuretrol cutout for 1.5PSI and the cut in at 0.5 but that model pressuretrol might not go that low, I believe it it is rated at 2 - 15PSI. If you had a vaporstst you could get below a pound easily.



Does your pressure gauge indicate the pressure, sometimes the 0-30PSI gauges don't respond at pressures below 2PSI but yours is new so it should.



What kind of vents are on your steam main(s)? If those are clogged, it forces a lot more air through the vents on the radiators and burns more oil.



Bob

broloco

Note sure if I should mess with Pressuretrol!

Thanks Bob for the info so far! I appreciate it. After taking a look at the Honeywell manual it could be that I'm in over my head though. I guess one needs to know alot more than what I know to mess with the settings.

Anyway I've taken some more photos that might help visualize my situation. The first pic shows what I believe is the pressure gauge. The heater is off, and has been off for some time and that is the current view (a lil past 5 psi) as of this writing. It goes up to between the 25 and 30 once the heat is on and running.

The second and third pics are of the main steam vents. The one that is shaped like a cone gives off a tiny itty bit of air when the heat is cranked up. The other one (the round one) was replaced by a plumber that my wife hired last year. I forget if it gives off any air or not. It looks **** to me.

And the fourth pic is of the vent that shot the water out.

Not sure if any of this will help, but maybe. Thanks so much again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28233131@N06/5164576999/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28233131@N06/5165181482/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28233131@N06/5165181394/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28233131@N06/5164577047/

BobC

Broken pressure gauge

Your boiler pressure gauge is broken and should be replaced asap. This gauge has to be operating correctly so you can be sure everything is operating safely. It should read zero when cold, and if the pressure got above 15PSI your safety valve would pop - and that would really get your attention. You can get a new one at a supply house along with some teflon tape for the threads. Unscrew the old one, put some teflon tape on the threads of the new one and screw it back in. MAKE SURE THE BOILER IS COLD (or at least cool) AND OFF BEFORE DOING THIS If your not comfortable doing it yourself, call in a pro. The problem is finding someone who really is a steam pro. You can look under "Find A contractor" and go down to the states section to see if there's anyone near you. If there isn't you'll have to call around to see if you can find one.



Until you understand steam you will have a tough time knowing if you've found the right guy. You might want to consider investing some money in some books so you'll know what they are talking about. http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Super-Deals/14/129/A-Steamy-Deal That's a good combo deal but you can always get the books one at a time if you would rather.



The bullet shaped main is probably either a Hoffman or a VentRite, while the cruggy one looks like a Maid-O-Mist. Both should vent air till the steam hits them. Do they get hot at about the same time? The main vents should be sized so they vent the air out of the mains quickly - a couple of minutes after the boiler header gets hot. Once the gauge has been fixed we can go through the steps to determine what kind of main vents you should have.



The radiator looks like it has a Heat Timer on it, if you slide that lever over you should be able to slow it's vent rate down. The radiators want to vent slower than the mains.



If you turn the screws on the pressuretrol, the silver tabs will move to show the settings. Setting them both as low as they will go is usually a good place to start.



god luck,



Bob



Here's a link that will give you some information on single pipe steam, these are taken from Dan's books. http://www.heatinghelp.com/article-categories/96/Problems-that-plague-ONE-PIPE-steam-heating-systems

BobC

gauge

One thing about that gauge, it has to be replaced with a gauge with an internal syphon to protect it against live steam. Otherwise the gauge would need a pigtail siphon like the one below the Pressuretrol to protect it from the steam.



Bob

broloco

Settings

Thanks again Bob!

I just took a screw driver to the screws at top of the pressuretrol and lowered both by just a hair. The screws at top are a bit wobbly now though. Seems as if the tighter you make the screw the higher the tab rises.Probably normal.

Yeah, I'll now have to change the internal syphon guage - ill get one just like it is. Seems easy enough to do. I'll let you know how it all works out.

Cheers,

Marc