slower vents needed

SteamStuck

Is there any vent slower than Gorton no 4? How about venting capacity comparison between Gorton no4 and Maid O' Mist no 4? I'm trying to balance my one pipe system - so far unsuccessfully.



Just to elaborate a bit on my problem: northern half of my house connected at the end of the long main stays mostly cold, but the southern half--connected to the short main-- stays warm. The thermostat, located in the southern part of the house cuts of way before the northern side sees any significant steam. I tried to play with the vents (both main vents and radiator vents,) but not very successful so far.



On the southern side I have no main vent (main is about 4 feet + couple runouts each about 6 ft .) The radiators have no 4 maid-o mist.

on the northern side there are two no1 Gorton at the end of the long main (18ft), and each of the 4 radiators has MaidO Mist C and D vents.



The southern side still warms up faster than the northern one. Probably the boiler sitting under the room with the thermostat doesn't help either.

Any other thing that I can try?



Thanks.

Mike Kusiak_2

Thermostat settings?

What type of thermostat are you using and has it been optimized for steam as far as CPH or anticipation?



If you are running very short steam cycles, there may not be enough time for steam to reach the far end of the long main and fill the radiators there. How long does the burner fire on a typical call for heat? A longer cycle may help even out the heating somewhat.

gerry gill

try

Thermostatic air vents on the radiators of the southern main.

gerry gill

try

Thermostatic air vents on the radiators of the southern main.

SteamStuck

short cycles

I'm not sure of the type of thermostat: this is one thing I did not look at, I'll check when I get back home. The thermostat is an old mercury one. The firing cycle lasts for 5 to10 minutes typically, especially this season when the weather was pretty warm (NJ). I'm pretty sure the burner cycles on the thermostat, and not on the LWCO or the pressuretrol.



If I raise the thermostat (say from 69 to 71) and the burner is on for 20-30 minutes, all the radiators heat up completely, and then the pressuretrol cuts out the burner.



Is there any setting on a mercury thermostat to force it to run for 20 minutes or longer?



Also, the problem is still there that the radiators on the already warm side of the house warm up faster...



Thanks

SteamStuck

thermostatic vents

I thought it was a bad idea to install a thermostatic air vent in the same room with the thermostat, since that can make the system run continuously: if the thermostatic air vent is set to a lower temperature than the thermostat, then that radiator will never heat, thus the thermostat will never get satisfied.

Hap_Hazzard

The thermostat will cut out eventually

The idea is to keep the radiators nearest the thermostat from hogging all the steam and shutting off the thermostat. The thermostatic vent lets those radiators bring the temperature right up to just a little shy of the set point, then shuts them down and lets the other radiators heat the rest of the house, and then the thermostat will cut out. If your boiler ran endlessly, your house would get pretty hot, unless your boiler was undersized, in which case you'd almost need to run it constantly just to be comfortable.



You mentioned the furnace is under the warm part of the house. Are your mains well insulated? Is it a lot warmer in the basement that upstairs? I don't know how much good they do, but people sometimes cut vents in the floor to let the warm air come up from the basement.



To answer your original question, I'm pretty sure the M-o-M 4 and the Gorton 4 are the same size. I think the main difference is that the M-o-M vents have plastic floats. I don't know of anything slower, other than an adjustable vent.

Abracadabra

can't really get much slower...

Move thermostat to a cold room and put a trv or 2 on the hot rooms? How long is a cycle? 







For most practical purposed #4s are about the slowest you can really put on a rad.  You get put a Hoffman 1A at a #1 setting to get .020 vs. .025.  Anegligible difference. Try flipping the vent upside down and see what that does?  You might get a small amount of heat on the warm side and all the steam running to the cold side.

gerry gill

I like Abracadabra's thoughts

regarding moving the thermostat and putting trv's on the hot rooms..but let me add that you can put a particular white rodgers thermostat in the same place it is now, and have a remote wireless sensor that you can put in the cool side and being wireless you can play with its location..we used this before and it worked great..whatever the thermostat is set for, the room with that sensor will become that temperature..then you just have to handle the overheating..overheating is much easier to deal with than underheating.

SteamStuck

wireless thermostat

Do these thermostats come in millivolt circuit? Are they compatible with steam? Where can you buy these?



Thanks

gerry gill

dont know about millivolt,

but they do have a 'sl' setting which works with steam..type in wireless remote thermostat white rodgers in google to learn more..i would imagine honeywell to have one too.