Radiator Vents On Two Pipe Steam.......

heatboy

.......are not supposed to be there, but what if they are?  Does the radiator heat too quickly or something else?  These are on a system without traps, but uses orfices in the valves.  It works and I know it's not right, but...................

Jamie Hall

One does have to wonder...

why some things were done...  There's no particular reason why it shouldn't work.  There's not even a good reason why it should be all that hard to balance, provided that the orifices weren't messed with when the vents were put on.



But why?  Why did someone put the vents on?  Possibly because someone else messed up the main venting?  Oh well...



I suppose -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  But... !

Dave in QCA

vents on 2-pipe

When we bought the Best Mansion Apartments, I found about half of the radiators had vents added to them.  This is an unusual 2 pipe system....  Steam inlet is at the bottom of the radiator and  the outlets have Dunham traps, the original #2 style were still present in a few places where they had not been replaced.  So, as some of the old traps had stopped working and failed closed, they were able to get the radiator to heat by adding a vent.  

Other radiator traps had failed in the open position, and to keep steam from blowing throught the condensate receiver, they installed a master trap.  

After repairing or replacing every trap in the building, removing the master traps, installing new 6 Gorton #2s and 2 Hoffman 75s, I found that I still had 3 rooms that were cold.  If it was being used as a privated residence, with doors open between spaces, it would not have been noticeable.  But, as divided into apartment, some rooms were running about 68, 4 degree colder than the rest of the building.  After much trial and error, I reinstalled a Hoffman 1A, set on fast, on each of those 3 radiators.  All rooms are now the same temperature.

Success after 2 years!!!!!

Anyway, this might help answer the questions as to why the vents are there.