Just when you think that you have seen it all

STEAM DOCTOR

Went on a job today. Typical uneven heat with some rooms too hot and some rads ice cold. First thing I noticed was vari valves on radiators. Figured that was part of problem. Went down to boiler room and noticed messed up near boiler piping. Typical. Poked around finished basement and found and replaced two clogged end of main vents. Went upstairs and started replacing vari vents with properly sized gortons. Got to second floor bathroom. Small sun rad radiator (aprox 10-15 edr) with TWO vari valves. Went to bedroom. Sun rad aprox 25 edr. THREE vari valves. Went to next bedroom. Sun rad aprox 25 edr. FOUR vari valves. I kid you not. Anyways replaced varis with gortons and plugged up extra tappings.

icesailor

Sunrads and Varivents:

Silly boy, don't you know that those tapped holes with the flush plugs are there for a reason" Different vent positions> Like the one at the top?

If you don't know the correct place for the vent, put one in each hole. Never mind that it wasn't easy even when they were new, to get the plugs out. But, you should have seen the method in the madness. One more vent in each Sunrad. Until the last one had a vent in each hole. The Sunrads still didn't work properly so a decision couldn't be made by the installer over which was the best hole, so leave the sleeping dog on the floor.

I consider the act of figuring out what the installer was trying to do and understanding why, a very important tool of troubleshooting.

Because, :They're Smart. And We're not.