steam/air vent gushing water

kj2158

hello! i am a desperate homeowner trying to find some help. i have a very old home with steam heat. our boiler is about 4 years old. suddenly, starting a few weeks ago, 2 of our radiators start gushing water out of the steam vents if i set the temperature in my house anywhere over 67 degrees. i can hear water start sloshing around in the radiator. really sloshing, not hissing or banging or something (although sometimes it does that too). then water starts flowing out of the vent. sometimes spraying on the wall also, but mostly gushing out the vent down the sides and all over the floor. the radiators are on the second and third floor of my house, on the same pipe line (sorry if that is not a correct term!)

the radiator directly below those, on the first floor, is not leaking. please help me with any ideas how to fix this. thank you very much for reading this!

JStar

Water

Are the radiator valves fully open?

BobC

Something changed

Has any work been done that might have disturbed the pipe that feeds these radiators? Is there increased hissing from any of the other radiators?



Bob

kj2158

stam vent gushing water

yes they are open. thank you!

kj2158

steam vent gushing

there hasn't been anything done. everything worked fine for years, although there has always been some hissing and occasionally banging. sometimes now though, i hear slow drips from the radiator on the bottom floor (the one that is not leaking) on the same line but i can't find any water so i am not sure... thank you for your help!

kj2158

steam vent gushing water

yes they are open, thank you!

BobC

Pressure or movement?

It's possible that the system pressure has increased, do you know what pressure the system is operating at?



There is a pressuretrol on a steam system that sets the maximum pressure it can work at and it's usually pretty low - 1 to 2 PSI. If the input pipe to this device were to become clogged and it could not "read" the boiler pressure you might be operating at higher pressure than normal and that could cause this kind of problem.



Then again I could be completely wrong. The other possibility is that a pipe support has moved causing a pipe to shift and lose it's slope. That could trap water and that could cause this type of problem.



Bob

kj2158

pressure

i do not know about the pressure. i will go look at it tomorrow and see if i can find a setting or a number or something. if i can't, or if it is too high or clogged, is that something that can be fixed pretty quickly, or is it a big project, what do you think? your help is very appreciated!

BobC

pictures

There is a pressure gauge on the boiler and it should read a couple of PSI at most, be warned many of these gauges don't read accurately at low pressure. Boilers use a pressuretrol to set boiler pressure. The tab on the front of the pressuretrol should be set at 0.5 PSI and the if you take the front cover off the white wheel inside should read one.



Take some pictures of the boiler, the piping around the boiler, the pressuretrol, and one of the problem radiators from both ends.



Bob

moneypitfeeder

just my 2 cents

(Non expert post follows!) When I first moved into my current home (with new to me steam heat) shortly after firing the system up for the first heating season, the only 1 pipe rad in our otherwise 2 pipe vapor system was spitting water all over the place too. Turned out in our situation that the auto-waterfeed line had a leaking manual fill valve. (one waterline went to a black box that is the autofeed, and there also is a straight feed with a manual turn valve in the event you need to add water) The manual valve was leaking, and due to poor venting and near boiler piping issues/pressure too high issues, water was flooding the boiler and being pushed through the system. Once we replaced the manual valve (looked kinda like an older outdoor faucet handle) it solved the spewing water issue. Then we fixed the near boiler piping for efficiency, and added low pressure gauges and controls, and to top off increased our venting to hasten the steam to the radiators. Sometimes these things are a culmination of many problems that can take a bit to diagnose and resolve. As previously mentioned pictures are tremendously helpful.

nicholas bonham-carter

Big project

In the summer, there is no big project. In the winter, all projects ar bigger, as the boiler needs to be shut down. We should all learn how to do the most simple maintenance, including cleaning the pigtail, and with the help of a low pressure gauge, to see when the main vents, or pigtails are becoming clogged.

There is a great deal of satisfaction in making a change in the system for the better.--NBC

STEAM DOCTOR

Dirt

Could be dirt/sludge on bottom of boiler causing water carryover. Shut down boiler and drain and refill boiler a few times. Good luck

kj2158

pics

here are pics of everything i thought might help. it said the psi was basically 0-1. couldn't find any box to lfit cover though. i so appreciate this feedback!