cold radiator

willy46

I recently replaced my old Utica one pipe Steam Boiler with a Burnham Mega Steam Boiler. It works great but two radiators one in the breezeway and one in the garage which are on the kitchen, Dining room and living room loop do not get hot any more. I thought it was from a rust sedement clog in their common supply pipe so I snaked out. It was clean. Then I thought I needed a larger air relief so I installed a number 1 on the radiator in the garage. Nothing. So I took it off leaving the radiator open and turned the system on. A slight amount of air came out and I could hear the system running but no steam. The Burnham cycles every 12 minutes to check the low water limit and the old boiler just ran until the thermostat shut it off. Could this be the reason? If so can I change that setting? If I change that setting will that effect the efficiency of the system which I don't want to do because I'm going through $750.00 worth of fuel oil every month for a 1200 sq. foot home thats been heavily insulated and has new insulated glass windows. Your ideas will be appreciated Thanks.

Big Ed_4

Install

Did you call the installers back ? What did they say ?

STEAM DOCTOR

cold rads

Good eve. There are a few possibilities. The short 12 minute cycles might be the troublemaker( particularly if these rads are further from the boiler). Also if there is excess water in the system then the watered down steam might be turning back to water before it hits these radiators(again more common with further rads but could also occur on other rads depending on variety of conditions). There are a number of factors that can cause excess water. Some pics of the piping around the boiler would be helpful. Also look at the water glass while the boiler is firing and see if the water is moving up and down a lot.

BobC

Boiler matched to the steam system?

Do you know if they calculated the total EDR (surface square footage of each radiator) and matched that to the square feet of steam the Megasteam is rated for? It migght be possible to downfire the oil burner so you get a longer cycle time.



Can you tell if they moved any steam pipes up or down when the installed that new boiler? If the new boiler initially heated everything ok and now does not it could well be they changed some pipes pitch during the install.



Did they replace the main air vents on the steam mains?



Post some pictures of the new boiler showing the pipes that come and go from it so we can see how it's tied into the system. I agree with Ed that the installers should be called back.



Bob