Gorton 54 Valve

eber297

i have a one pipe steam system and all rooms have radiators except for the living room. The living room has baseboard and and at the end of each run instead of a regular venting valve like on the radiators it has a gorton 54 valve. My question is the one run, which is about 16 feet long, only seems to warm up only half way the length of the run. The valve has been painted over numerous times and I have removed as much of the paint as I can but with little effect. Should I replace the valve or is there some other type of vent I should or can be using for this?

JStar

Vent

http://www.gorton-valves.com/type54.htm



Wrong valve. you need one designed for steam. For 16ft of baseboard, you can try a Gorton 6. If it still vents slowly, try a C or D.

eber297

Gorton Valve

I stand corrected , the run is 19 feet, so would the same vent still apply?

I have attached pics of the current set up on the run...

Unknown

19 ft

19 ft for steam baseboard is bit streching it... besides with all that carpet you got jammed underneath seroiusly reduced the convection flow... but yet you may it to slow the condensation rate in the radiator.

JStar

Baseboard

The vent also needs to be on the opposite side of the supply valve in order to work properly. Are there one or two pipes connected to this radiator?

eber297

Gorton

There seems to be one pipe, it comes up from the main in the basement and the returns down to the basement @ the other end. The pic is of where it returns down to the basement.

Hap_Hazzard

Are you sure this is a steam system?

The type of vent, piping and the pipe size all look typical of hot water. Is it possible that what you have here is a baseboard connected to a hot water zone added onto an existing steam boiler? This is not unheard of, and it's a fairly reasonable way to heat an extension to a house with a steam system without having to upsize the boiler. If it's done right there should be a circulating pump and an aquastat.



Can you post a few pictures of the boiler and/or show us exactly how that baseboard is connected to the rest of the system?

eber297

Gorton

Attached pic of boiler, also where it goes up from the end of main and also wher it returns to basement @ end of run on baseboard..

Hap_Hazzard

Okay, that's clearer.

Looks like a typical steam installation where a baseboard has been added with separate supply and return piping to compensate for the small pipe size, because you can't expect water to run out a ¾" pipe while steam is coming in. You don't want to vent that too fast. You've got about 60 ft² EDR there, so it isn't going to be super hot anyway.



By the way, I see you've got an old Peerless series 61. How many sections does it have?

eber297

Ok

So is the Gorton 54 valve the correct valve to be using? or is there something different that I can use? Also since this is the only heat source for the living room, is there anything I can do to help make sure that the whole run gets hot? Most times only half to three quarters of the 19 foot length gets hot, and I usually keep thermostat set @ 65...Thanks

Hap_Hazzard

Definitely not.

That vent is for a hot water system, to bleed the air out of the radiator when it gets noisy. You need a thermostatic vent that will vent air until the steam arrives then shut until the cycle ends.



What's probably happening now is that the air is venting via the main. When the steam reaches the return, it stops venting, and the steam can't fully fill the baseboard.



Try a Gorton or Maid-o-Mist 5 or 6 and see how it goes. If it still isn't heating, or a different radiator stops heating when this one starts, you might want to do a radiator survey to make sure your boiler has the capacity to supply steam to all your radiation.

eber297

Thanks

So is this the correct one to try: Gorton No. 5, 1/4" Straight Vapor Equalizing Valve



Would have to go with the straight not the angled due to location?

And would pitch make any difference as it does with regular radiators ?



Again Thanks for the help...

Hap_Hazzard

Probably

You could use an angled vent if you removed the street elbow, but then you'd need a reducing bushing. I'm pretty sure the angled vent is only available in ⅛".