double vents on a radiator

ChrisJ

I have a small 15 sqft edr radiator in our downstairs bathroom. I think its 7 sections but overall pretty small. Its a large tube radiator.



I have a problem where this little guy has a 10 foot runout going to it. I want more heat in that room but if I try going from a Gorton 5 to a Gorton 6 the steam cuts across the bottom of the radiator and shuts the vent. The end result is I get less instead of more especially on more mild days.



I really have no convenient place to vent the runout as its over a small crawl space so I'm considering drilling and tapping the inlet side of the radiator and venting it with a Gorton 6 and then placing a Gorton 4 on the other end of the radiator to vent the radiator it self nice and slow.



Should this work ok and get me steam to the rad fast but stop the steam from taking a short cut? Am I likely to introduce other problems?



Most of my radiators are vented with either Gorton 5s or 6s. Two have 4s and two have Cs. I'm considering venting the runouts to the two with Cs and switching them to 5s as well.



Right now the entire system works very well, in fact I'm already seeing a pretty big savings vs last year thanks to the two TRVs I installed on the 2nd floor. I just want a few radiators to behave a little better.

Rod

Additional Vents on Radiator

Hi Chris-  You might first try a tee on the radiator vent opening and then placing a vent off each branch of the tee. It worked well for me.

- Rod

ChrisJ

Tee

Hi Rod,



That won't work as the main problem is if I vent too fast the steam cuts across the bottom of the rad and shuts the vent.

Rod

Radiator Venting

Okay, that makes sense. I didn't think take into account your radiator size. The radiator I used it on a was quite a bit larger.

- Rod

ChrisJ

Yep

That is why I'm thinking of putting a #6 or even a #C on the side by the inlet pipe to vent the runout and then having a #4 on the other normal side of the radiator to vent the actual radiator.

JHprovidence

could I see that?

I have seen you talk about venting large radiator and would love to see what you have done with a tee.

steamedchicago

space between valve and radiator?

Do you have space that you can put a fitting between the valve and the radiator, and put a vent in that?  That would save drilling the radiator.  Also, lots of radiators have a tapped hole on both sides, the inlet side filled with plug.  You could try removing it.  (ha. ha. I know.)  

MDNLansing

Two Pipe

I have a two pipe air system. Although my rads are piped and not vented, all of them have tappings on both ends of the radiator. I removed the plug in the valve side of one of my rads and installed a cheap thermo vent. It certainly worked. Venting through the pipe worked normally, and some air did in fact exit the vent. Rad got hot very quickly, much faster than the others. I'd say it should work just fine for you.

Bio

Possibility

Assuming you are running nearby close to 0 pressure (maybe you are not) there is a possibility that you have a nearby run out/radiator venting fast and condensing so fast that is drawing steam off the small radiator run out, they both may see steam at the beginning but the fast venting/condensing pulls steam off the small radiator supply

Running at 2,3,4,5 oz of back pressure can be better than 0 this will assure equal steam pressure at all radiators

Just a thought ,

Disclaimer : I'm just a home owner

ChrisJ

Pressure

I am running near 0 psi however I feel the main problem is some of my radiators have very long run outs while others have almost none.



Two of my radiators have almost 20 feet worth of runout while a few others have around 2 feet. The reason for this is a few sections of the house are built over crawlspaces so they need 10+ feet of runout just to get to the outside wall and then they go up to the second floor.



This radiator specifically, has only around 10 feet. The problem I've found is I cannot vent it as fast as I am the ones on the second floor due to how small it is.

Bio

Over venting? Perhaps

You may be venting too fast and there is no back pressure on the system to keep filling radiators simultaneously

ChrisJ

Venting too fast

There is a possibility of that and I've actually wondered about that.

However, how can steam reach a radiator with 20 feet of runout at the same time it reaches one with 2 feet of runout if both are vented the same?



The steam hits the main vents about the same time as the runouts start to get steam at the mains, except for the two with really long runouts. Those get a slight head start and its really a good thing from what I've seen. The system does perform predictably. All last season everything behaved the same every cycle as it does this season.

Bio

Radiators

That was my point, If vents on those radiators are on the big side steam is going to favor them and steal steam from the smaller run out , condensate will also contribute to keep filling those radiators

Just offering another point of view

ChrisJ

Ah

I see.



I always welcome other point of views. They can often save a lot of headaches or often offer an immediate solution for when the problem does happen.