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Fine Tuning a 5 Story Walk Up

SteamBalance
SteamBalance Posts: 1
in Strictly Steam
I've been on a mission to fine tune one of our buildings using a new Entech Boiler system that sends me wireless real time temperature readings from a large sample of apartments. We've struggled with one line of apartments where I just couldn't get the top two units to heat up enough without overheating the rest of the building. I finally went to a #4 valve in the bottom unit in this line and it seems to have had a positive impact. However, even with 4 valves on all my lower floor units, they are still running hotter than I would like. A couple of questions:



1) Is there anything smaller than a 4 on the market?

2) What's the consequence of plugging the opening on the relief valve? Will this simply retard the heat further on these low floor units or will I get nothing?

3) We have standard 1/8" D valves at the top of all of our risers in the 5th floor apartments. Should I have a plumber thread a bigger hole so as to put in a larger (1/2 inch?) vent at the top of my problem line so that steam gets to "Apt. 5A" that much faster?

Comments

  • nicholas bonham-carter
    nicholas bonham-carter Member Posts: 8,578
    Tuning up an unknown system

    Why not get some of the books here about steam, so you are not shooting in the dark.

    With 5 floors on the risers, you may want to follow the advice of the author and put big vents at the top of the risers. Main venting is critical as well. Put a lot of Hoffman 40's on the rads after you have your back pressure of venting down to 2 ounces.--NBC

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