Help a beginner with his steam radiators

DASchrier

My wife and I rent a small cottage house in Cambridge MA, and up until recently we were not paying for the oil, but this has since changed so I'm trying to optimize the steam system as much as possible to save money.

First off, the vents on the radiators were all quite old and plugged up. The old vents were vent-rite adjustables. I replaced these all with Hoffman 1a vents.

The vent-rites were near silent, even when venting. The Hoffmans are very loud when venting, is this possibly due to larger venting capacity so it's more audible? Additionally, towards the end of the heating cycle, every vent in the house at once becomes very loud, I'm not sure if they're all venting, or is it possible that the radiators are cooling and the system is re-filling with air?

Second issue is trying to balance the heat. The first problem is that the pipes in the basement are not insulated at all which I am taking care of this weekend. Second is that the thermostat is on the 2nd floor in the smallest room of the house. Seems that no matter what vent setting I put this radiator on, the room warms up enough before the rest of the rooms in the house can.

nicholas bonham-carter

Steam system tuneup

Most likely, your main vents are not up to the job of letting the air escape easily. You may also improve things with slower radiator venting, by installing Hoffman 40's. This way, the steam will fill all the pies first, before any one radiator gets steam, then all radiators will fill simultaneously.

Take some pictures of the main vents, and of the boiler and its piping before insulating with fiberglass (even batts will do), and post them here. If there is any water-hammer, then check the pipe slopes of the supplies, and dry returns for any sagging low spots.

Having a tech check and analyze your combustion efficiency could save fuel as well.--NBC

Si_zim

tweaks

Hi

I am still tweaking my system but it's getting a lot better. Lots of help from this forum.

I stopped using Hoffman1A's - too loud. The clank would wake us up. Not sure why people recommend them as the build quality seems poor also. Maybe leave them on rads outside of bedrooms. Using Gortons now which are quieter but still some occasional gurgles. Maybe try a Gorton 4 to slow down your thermostat room.

Check your system pressure - get a 0-4psi gauge if you dont have one. System should not go above 1.5psi. Loud venting may be high pressure or it could be vacuum as you mentioned. If possible get main vents installed which will help as NBC mentioned - and may quieten the vacuum. Ideally your pressuretrol will click back in before you get a vacuum during a heating call. But once the tstat clicks off then you are likely to get a vacuum as the system cools. This will be worse with uninsulated pipes and no mains.

Si_zim

Or MOM4

Or try a Maid-O-Mist 4 in that tstat room. They are quite cheap and available at HD/Lowes I think. At least you can tune your system with it later replace with a Gorton of similar capacity as some others have recommended - since MOM quality is not quite as good.

There are MOM vents that come with a variety of orifices which make them handy for this kind of tinkering. You leave the vent in place and unscrew/replace the orifice which is quick and easy.

DASchrier

Follow up

I do not believe there are any main vents.

The boiler is a Weil Mclain SGO. It's only a year old and was recently maintained.

The pressure was originally set to 2psi, subtractive mode with the differential set at 1psi.

I recently lowered this to 1.5, additive mode with the differential still set at 1psi, to try and cut down on the venting noise.

The stack splits into two, serving the left and right sides of the house.

The right branch goes about 4 feet before branching off to the front and back of the first floor, 65" and 98" approximately. The left branch has 3 pipes that all go up to the 2nd floor.

Unless the mains are above the basement ceiling, I do not see any. The house is from 1873 and I'm not sure how old/original the heating system is.

I'll take some pictures later today.

nicholas bonham-carter

Counter flow system?

If you have a counter flow system, then the main supplies end with the last riser, and a main vent would go here. A counter flow system has the mains looping back to the boiler, (dry returns), and then dropping down to the wet returns into the boiler. Main vents should be installed just back from this drop.

As you are renting, I would save all the old vents for reinstalling them at the end of your tenancy. If there is no fitting suitable for putting in a main vent, then sometimes a fast radiator vent on the end radiator , with slower vents on the rest can get the steam to the end more quickly.--NBC

DASchrier

Pics of boiler

Here are the pictures.

The right side heats the two radiators on the first floor, each room  ~200 sq ft.

The closest pipe on the left side goes to the largest room on the 2nd floor, ~200 sq ft.

The furthest pipe on the left side splits just under the 2nd floor into the bathroom and the small sitting room where the thermostat is.

Pardon the mess...

Double D

Near boiler piping needs correcting.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/files/posts/18191/Counterflow%20Piping%20Configuations.pdf