Venting the risers in the front of my building?

BobC

out of level

Having the vaporstat slightly out of level will make it somewhat inaccurate but it will still function fine. You can either re-level it or just adjust the set points till it's working where you want it to.



Bob

years_of_steam

Could my problem be wet steam?

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. While the top floor radiators are now heating (the timer is cycling longer because it is colder here now), both the Gorton 2's at the top of the front risers, and some of the new Hoffman 40's, are making noises that I think they shouldn't.... sort of a quiet rumbling in the case of the Gortons, and a hiss and click/clack in the case of the Hoffmans. When I look at the water in the glass gauge when the boiler is making steam, especially after 5 minutes or so, it does seem to be dripping back down the side of the glass, from the top.



Could this be part/most of the problem now? and if so, what do I do about it?



The boiler is at least 35 years old and I have a preventive maintenance done on it annually, usually in the spring, but I don't know if they actually clean the boiler or not. I will call them tomorrow to find out when they last cleaned the boiler.

BobC

Skim and flush?

Is the water in the sight glass clean and what does the water look like when you open the drain valve on the boiler (best done when not making steam)? The water will initially by dirty but should run clear after a minute or less, take some of the water you drain and boil it on the stove to see if looks normal. If it has large bubbles it's got oil in it and has to be skimmed. What pressure does the boiler get up to now? My boiler runs between 4 and 12 oz and I could probably go lower.



A good skimming and perhaps a flushing could be in order if the water is not clean. If you flush and refill the boiler make sure it's cold or just a little warm.



Bob

nicholas bonham-carter

Open vent test

Try firing the boiler while the vent is off on the top floor laggards, and see how much comes out. This needs one person at the boiler to be ready to switch off when enough steam has been seen to come out.

If your boiler were under-sized, you would not have any pressure at all at the end of the cycle. If there is a jog in that riser, then there could be water impeding the escape of air.

The nice thing about Hoffman vents is their ability to be turned off by rotating the valve upside down, so you could turn all the vents off on the intermediate floors to check on the speed of the top (for each riser).

Many people with unbalanced heating seem to have heat-timer controls, and yet those with tekmar steam controls seem to have no problems. I wonder why that is.

In your situation, the steam will get up 5 floors with 3 ounces, so I would try to reduce the vaporstat even lower than the present setting.--NBC