No headroom for a Gorton #2, best alternative? Maybe another question or two.

mgdpublic

Hi all,
I've got an oversized boiler and have hissing/gurgling at my air vents. I'm trying to vent my mains better but have little overhead room to put a Gorton #2 vent. I don't want to do much work here. Just add a shorter vent with a lot of capacity. (Why do those vents have to be so big anyway, why not just make the hole bigger?). Can anyone suggest a good alternative?

Also I have one radiator at the end of my main that seems to generate the most pressure of all. It is half the size of the others, but I have tried venting with smaller and larger openings to no effect. Why does this end of the line one generate so much pressure? Thanks all!

nicholas bonham-carter

The pressure should be more or less even throughout the system, and what is the pressure?
You could always put the new Gorton #2 on the vertical segment of pipe, at the end of the run, where it drops down to the wet return. Having enough main venting capacity is important enough to warrant the effort to put them in. Maybe a one inch steam trap would need less headroom.--NBC

KC_Jones

Strictly from a capacity standpoint 3 Gorton #1 vents give you similar capacity to the Gorton #2 vent and they are much smaller. You would need a couple fittings to build a vent tree to mount them, but it works. I have this on my system due to headroom issues. I will reiterate what NBC asked.....what is your pressure? Do you have a good low pressure gauge to know for sure what pressure you are running?

mgdpublic

I don't know my pressure because my clearly steam-blind heating "expert" installed a 0-Billion PSI gauge. Was looking at getting one of the 0-3 psi ones.

KC_Jones

I would suggest getting a low pressure gauge and install it to see what you are really running at (don't remove existing gauge). The pressure can cause some of the symptoms you are describing, but could also be bad vents. Without knowing actual pressure it's hard to diagnose. What is your pressurtrol set to and have you verified your pigtail is not clogged? Not sure what gauge you have, but in most areas the 0-30 PSI gauge is required by code. Not saying it's useful, but that explains why they are there as well as the manufacturer supplying them.