Steam Baseboard valves

Nerko

Hello Everyone,

I came across this website and all I have to say is wow lots of info and helpful people. I been reading posts for last few days and Learned a lot and answered many of my questions.

But I still need some help understanding and clarifying my questions about vent types for baseboards. Steam base boards. (baseboard cast tube and fine of 1st floor and 2nd floor old style cast iron radiator)

We recently bought a 2 family house that has a gas smith cast iron boiler GB250 with steam.

Originally when fired up boiler pressure setting was on high for my liking around 7psi on the pressure adjuster but the house was getting plenty of heat everywhere 1st and 2nd floor. I lowered the pressure to about 2psi on adjuster now the problem is 2nd floor is fine plenty of heat. 1st floor not so well. the baseboards are getting partially hot and only certain sections.

After looking at the baseboards and looking for the vents I noticed something strange. alot of the vents on the baseboards were the little manual bleed vents with the key. and two other ones were No. 72 Auto-Vents. So I opened up the vents manually and of course air came out and heat came right up to those bad boys.

My question is what type of vent can I install there so they could function correctly and vent air from the baseboards? homedepo has the No. 72 Auto-Vents but states they are automatic vents for hot water.

I installed two IPS straight steam radiator vents that I had in the garage from the cast iorn radiators and they vented the air fine and baseboards got hot but they never really stop hissing or shut close like they would on the old cast iorn radiator. Would a hoffman 508 model work?

any help would greatly be appriciated.

Big Ed_4

Venting ,Baseboard piping, Pressure

Steam Baseboard should be piped two pipe with the vent on the return before the water trap . With the low profile design , steam should enter one end (supply riser )and the condensate would exit the other (return riser). The vent should be on the return riser below the baseboard . The return riser can be piped into the wet of dry return . If it's a dry return a proper water trap is needed to insure steam enters the correct path and allows the condensate to return back to the system.



Steam as well is everything in life takes the least resistance , you want to heat the mains first then ,heat the radiators equally . There should be Larger vents sized for the mains and smaller vents sized for the radiator .



Steam vents are normally are open allowing the rushing steam to push out the air , once the steam reaches the vent it will close , It will not reopen until the pressure in the system drops below one pound .



Any steam leak should be repaired , steam leaks causes the system to burn more fuel , forces you to add fresh water which corrodes the system and fills the system with solids (mud)... A tight residential system should only use a few gallons a year .



You don't need much pressure to heat a residential home , normally all you need is ounces .Too much pressure is counterproductive for proper operation as well fuel savings . As you increase pressure on water you need to increase temperature to produce steam .

Nerko

Valves

Big Ed Thank you for the info that is very useful. The valaves are located in the return riser side. The question is what vents should be there? because now its the manuel key vents that i would have to unscrew each time heat is turned on to let air out and the IPS straight steam radiator vents are not closing keep hissing letting steam out. Is there a specific type of vent valve or band that are for the steam baseboards.

Steamhead

What I'd do

is cut a tee in the return line under the floor and install a vertical-shank vent there such as a Gorton #4 or Hoffman #41.

Nerko

Vent location

Im trying to picture how a vertical-shank vent would look. I went on google to but not alot of info came up.

Can I install Gorton #4 or Hoffman #41 on the return elbow section return riser or does it have to be under the floor. Reason why Im asking is because there is a vent there already tapped and I would have to break the wall in few diff areas to do it under the floor.