Noisy Convector

MPL15654

I have a customer with a noisy convector in his house. It's very strange his whole house is piped the same way, it's 1 pipe steam, but all the supply's to the convectors tee off below them and pick up the return side of the convector with a check valve. I took some pictures but i'm not really sure if they'll be clear enough to see. I can hear the water trapped in the convector, i can't really pitch it because of the way it's piped. In my opinion the check valve has to be broken or clogged, and need to be replaced but i was wondering if i'm just better off capping the return of this convector (since it really isn't a 2 pipe system) pitch it towards the supply and make it 1 pipe. The convector is maybe 30" wide. Any thoughts?

jumper

measure the slopes

Check pitches and draw a sketch. Steam condenses in the finned tube. I think you'll find that the intent is parallel flow in the terminal. Do those convectors have vents? Where? OTH your idea should work if there's enough pitch.

MPL15654

Vents

Yes all the convectors have vents. I was wondering if i capped this vent if it might work without re-piping, i was wondering if the air was being pushed out too fast and condensing. It's just weird how all the convectors in the house are piped like this because it's really a 1 pipe system.

RoiiRaz

Parallel flow?

Jumper, what would parallel flow achieve?

Hap_Hazzard

Piping convectors on a one-pipe system

It all depends on the EDR of the convector (2" fin-tube convectors have 5.7 ft² EDR per foot) and the size of the supply piping, just like a radiator. If it's less than 24 ft² (i.e. a < 4' convector), a 1" pipe is big enough. 24–60 ft² (a 4–10' unit) needs 1 1/4", and > 60 ft² requires 1 1/2" supply piping. (I'm not sure what the upper EDR limit is for 1 1/2" pipe.)



If the supply piping isn't large enough to support the EDR, the water and steam are going to rub elbows as they pass each other at the entrance. If you can't use a bigger supply, you have to pipe the other end directly to the return and pitch towards it.



I'm drawing a blank on what the check valves are doing. Do you have a picture of one of these?

Hap_Hazzard

Parallel (aka concurrent)

means steam and condensate are going in the same direction, so they don't bump into each other going in and out the same piece of pipe.

RoiiRaz

Got it.

Thanks.