Steam Boiler -- Basement Level not Heating

Pumpguy

More thoughts

Most of the systems I deal with are vacuum systems.  In a situation like this, the overhead dry returns would carry the air back to a vacuum pump where it would be discharged to atmosphere.  The traps would then discharge into a vacuum which is a pressure lower than atmosphere. 



Since this is not a vacuum system, I see no reason why air vent valve(s) couldn't be substituted for the overhead dry return. 



I believe it was mentioned that a radiator vent was tried but the tenant found it was too noisy.  If that's the case, it may be necessary to pipe the air vent some distance away so the air discharge noise is not a problem. 



I will leave to others to recommend the size and type of air vent valve to use for this application. 

Alchemist

Great Info

Thanks for all the great information. It has helped a lot. We are looking at maximizing what we can through venting. As you said, some of it might need to be piped. The struggle is it is such a confined space (the return runs through concrete back to the boiler room (above that concrete is a sidewalk). It's quite a logistical nightmare!



Anyway, after all the opinions come back, we'll most like go with a condensate return and pump the water back. Between that and whatever venting we can get in there, I'm pretty confident the unit will heat just fine.



I will let you know once all is said and done what we did and how well it works.



Thanks again,

Casey

quack24

condensate pump

Unless the water is actually building up in the radiator (which it shouldn't because you have 5-6 feet of static pressure due to the height of the radiators) or the condensate is not making it back to the reciever you shouldn't need a condensate pump

Alchemist

Radiator height is not the problem...

The return line has a water seal now because of the height it needs to return to the shipco inlet tank. Without anything to help it, the condensate is backing up. The way it is set up, the tank really needs to be the major source of venting, but as the water goes down, then up, that cannot happen. It would help if we could better vent the mains or the outlet sides of the radiators before they run down below the concrete, but that is a logistical nightmare.



The page you mentioned in Holohan's book actually shows a near perfect description of this. Unfortunately, to trap and vent that main properly might be impossible.



So on to the next option, a collecting tank with pump--at some point before the water seal.



Or so our thinking goes!!



Casey

quack24

expensive air vent

Unless the highest point is higher than the radiator you shouldn't need a pump so putting a pump just for the venting would be a pretty expensive air vent. If you have a skilled plumber he might be able to drill and tap a pipe fitting in the main or even the pipe itself to put in an air vent or just vent the radiator itself just a little slower to avoid the noise problem (to avoid water hammer and a vaccum in the returns you might have to take out the elements in the traps and let them drip into a wet return)

quack24

thread o let

Here's a thread about thread outlets you might want to get someone to weld one on the mains and you can put the vents on thoose

quack24

hey casey

Just wondering what ended up happening