Another venting question

billslds

Hello fellow steam brothers,
I am a private residence property manager and started work for a new family. The job is all about trust and they've been through 3 HVAC contractors thus far. So, now they want me to manage/maintain the system. They called me to look at the furnace after it wouldn't run, it was over filled. I drained out gallons and gallons of water. The condensate pump was cycling endlessly. After draining down I got the boiler to fire, and heat. The auto feed wouldn't kick on until a couple weeks of draining down the low water cut out. Tons of sediment came out. Seems to work properly. The furnace is new and has some issues. For starters, the header off the boiler is in copper and not insulated. The house heats ok, minor hammer which has a been corrected through cleaning out the thermostatic traps. A couple might be failed as one room gets too hot and some won't get hot at all. Heat gets as far as the riser but won't pass throught the convector. The house has, what I believe to be, invisible radiators on the first and second floors, wall and ceiling radiators in the basement and regular radiators on the third floor. All radiators are located under windows or next to a main entry door. There are two mains and only one appears to be vented at the dry return and the other doesn't seem to have any. There is a note hanging recommending 3 Gordon's #2 at the end of a dry return before it elbows down to the condensate pump. There isn't 15" available on the line from the union to the elbow, can I still vent it if I tee up or after the drop to the condensate?
I can take pictures of the near pipe and boiler room piping and radiators. The basement is finished and I can't follow for measurements/ lengths. Never boiler has two pressuretrols and two gas valves. It's a Weil McLain. Cut in is at .5 and diff is at 1.5. Boiler stops first fire at 2.5 pounds. Whole cycle seems to complete at around 20 minutes. My question is about venting of the 3 gorton #2 at the end of the dry return( location). There is a gorton #1 on the other dry return and not sure why it works. The pipe goes to a strainer, thermostatic valve and elbows below waterline. On the last leg before the condensate pump it has a tee that goes from the floor to the ceiling with the #1 on top. It works as I hear it venting. Just don't understand its placement.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for long rambling message.

nicholas bonham-carter

Pictures of the boiler piping would help us get a handle on your problems.--NBC

billslds

Attached you will find some photos of what I have.
I'm aware of the manifold- insulation and copper
T&P should be on a 90 and a copper relieve pipe.

nicholas bonham-carter

Keep on trying to post some picture-I believe only some file types can be posted-JPG?--NBC

billslds

I realized. The hard way. Have 11 photos. Will post from laptop tomorrow. Using Ipad now.

billsldss

This was a huge effort to load these pictures. The site wouldnt recognize my computer and had to create a new account .
let me know if you need more feedback on the photos.
thanks for looking!

P.S. The last three photos are of the only vent on the system. Seems to work, not sure why. Have strainer to thermostatic valve, drops to 1' off floor, drops again to floor where it picks up another condensate line and there is a pipe that runs up to ceiling with gorton #1. The last drop would make it a wet return? because it connects into condensate pump.

Steamhead

That trap in the last three pics is not venting anything out of the system. I think everything is venting out of the vent on that condensate tank.

But why is that tank even there? Is there any radiation below the boiler's waterline?

billslds

There are no radiators below the condensate tank. There are radiators in the basement. One on the ceiling and three mounted high on the wall.
I suspect no enough "A" dimension with radiators that low.
The vent does work. It'll run for quite a few minutes at the end of the cycle. I'm just not sure why. Especially when it seems to go to the wet return. Shouldn't it be higher?
There is no steam that vents from the condensate pump at all. I've watched it many times. I've lifted most of the ceiling in the basement looking for traps of any sort, nothing.
So either the two take offs vent to one side, not probably, or a vent is missing. There are three condensate returns and only one vent. Scratching my head.

billslds

I meant no radiators below the waterline.

ChicagoCooperator

Steam should not be venting out of the pipe (the vent) at the return. It's similar to, if smaller than, my system (in medium sized apartment building). The way I understand it, the experts should chime in because I would like to know myself, is that the open pipe should be the only venting in the system.

billslds

To which open pipe are you referring? The vent on the condensate tank or the #1, which is the only steam vent I can find.

ChicagoCooperator

At the tank. Let me see if I can find pictures of mine. I have a diagram of that kind of system somewhere too.