Two pipe steam questions

MikeDeLaurentis

Hi,



My wife and I recently bought a house with steam heat, and I have some questions I was hoping someone could help with. Mainly, I would like some help identifying the system so I know what I'm looking for and how to maintain it. Our boiler is only about six years old, but the radiators look like they haven't seen any maintenance in decades. About half of them have leaky inlet valves.



The house is in Philadelphia, built in 1912. All the radiators say "Union Radiator Co. Johnstown PA". The return elbows have a "B" on them. I've attached some pictures of the boiler area and a few of the radiators. There are a couple things that seem strange to me about the set up. I've read a lot about steam traps, but I don't see anything on any of the radiators that looks like a steam trap. The return side has what appears to be a regular elbow. Is it possible that there's some kind of trap in that elbow, or in the nipple? Or is it possible that the system doesn't have traps? Another strange thing is that one (and only one) of the radiators has an air vent on it (picture attached). I thought two-pipe systems generally didn't have air vents. Finally, in the basement at the very back of the house, the steam main (or header?) is connected to the return pipe with a loop that dips down from the ceiling of the basement all the way to the floor. There are a couple pictures attached that show the loop. This is the farthest point in the basement from the boiler, where the last risers go up.



When we first turned the heat on a few days ago, the pressure was set to 5 PSI. It's a honeywell "Cut-in" pressuretrol. After reading a lot of things about steam heat, I found out that lower is generally better. I turned it all the way down to 1/2 PSI, and all the radiators get hot. It takes a few cycles of the boiler for the farthest radiator to get hot, but it eventually does.



As I mentioned, about half the radiators have leaky inlet valves. I would like to replace them, and I'm considering doing that myself. As you can probably guess, I've never messed with steam heat before. However, if it's as simple as unscrewing the old valves and screwing the new ones on, I think I can probably handle that. However, I'm also wondering what else I should do to properly maintain the system. In addition to the leaky valves, we also have some water hammer (not every cycle, but sometimes). Does anyone know if my system has steam traps? If so, I'm not sure how to identify them, and if not, would it be wise to add them? Is adding steam traps a reasonable job for an amateur, or is that something I should hire someone to do?



None of the pipes are insulated, so I'm thinking about insulating them at least where they're accessible. I'm hoping that might reduce condensate in the supply lines and cut down on the noise.



Sorry for the long post! I hope someone can tell me a little bit about the system. By the way, I have ordered a copy of "We Got Steam Heat".



Thanks!



Mike

nicholas bonham-carter

2-pipe vapor system

where are the inlet valves leaking? there is an excellent selection of steam books here in the shop here which will give you a lot of information about your system without being too technical.

i don't think you have any traps as the proprietary inlet valves can be adjusted to allow only the amount of steam into the radiator which can be condensed. the pressure on these must be as low as possible [2 ounces, which can be better obtained with a vaporstat, verified by a 3 psi gauge. the air needs to be let out with main vents, or there may still be an air eliminator from the original system.

when all the deferred maintenance has been caught up, these systems are very quiet, and even. do a search here for vapor system to get more information.

your steam supply piping coming off the boiler should be reconfigured in black iron for best results, but that would not be a wintertime job, and could be done next summer by yourself.--nbc

Ironman

Numerous Problems

You'll get more responses if you re-post this in the "Strictly Steam" forum.



A few quick observations:

1. The steam piping at the boiler should be done in black iron pipe, not copper. Copper can cause the boiler to crack.

2. The near boiler piping configuration is not correct.

3. There should not be a vent on a 2 pipe rad.



There some good steam pro's in your area.You need one. I'd check the "find a contractor" tab.

MikeDeLaurentis

Thanks

Thanks for the advice. I'll re-post on the "Strictly Steam" forum.

MikeDeLaurentis

leaky valves

Ok, thanks for the help. I'm not sure about the terminology, but the valves are leaking between the part that turns and the part that is stationary. In the one picture I posted that shows the top of a valve, the leak is occurring between the face that has the markings on it that show how open the valve is, and the piece that turns when you turn the handle. When you turn the handle you can hear the leak change.



I ordered "We Got Steam Heat". That one seemed like a good place to start. Any other recommendations for a particular book that covers vapor systems?



As I mentioned, the pressure is controlled by a pressuretrol. The lowest setting is 1/2 psi. It sounds like I need to replace that with a vaporstat. In the meantime I'll run it at the lowest setting. I'll look into redoing the pipes around the boiler with black iron.





Thanks again.