Moved Gortons to the end of the main

HarryL

I have about 40 feet of 2" main on a one pipe system.

When I started in December, I had a Vent Rite #35 mounted on a 1/2" tee at the end of the dry return near the boiler. There had been a small vent on a 1/4" nipple at the end of the main but that failed long ago and the nipple capped.

After helpful advice on this site, I bought two Gorton #2s to improve the venting. After reading "Balancing Steam Systems", I concluded that I needed 1/2" pipe to handle the capacity of two Gorton #2s. I couldn't remove the bushing at the end of the main to replace the 1/4" with 1/2", so I mounted the Gortons off the 1/2" tee where the Vent Rite had been placed. I timed how long it took steam to reach the end of the mains 1) before the change, 2) with the 1/2" tee open, and 3) with the Gortons in place. The timings #2 and #3 were virtually identical, and much better than #1. Of course there was still a delay before the Gortons closed off because the steam had to travel down the dry return. I think there was now some hammering, but I have noise problems in other parts of the system. I am having trouble tracking down where the hammering is coming from, and distinguishing it from binding between pipes and wooden joists, studs, etc.

I really wanted to get the Gortons to the end of the main but changing the 1/4" bushing for 1/2" was too much to take on during the middle of the coldest winter in recent times (I am in the Boston area). Well, I finally decided that I wanted to try them mounted off of the 1/4" tapping at the end of the main. I noticed that the effective orifice of two Gortons was still a lot less than the effective orifice of 1/4" black pipe so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. There is clearly more to gas flowing through a pipe than effective orifice, but it did not seem way out of line. So, I did some more timings with 1) the Gortons on the 1/2" tee on the dry run, 2) the 1/2" tee plugged and the cap removed from the 1/4" nipple at the end of the main, and 3) with the Gortons at the end of the main off of the 1/4" tapping. I took these timings with the radiators all closed off. All three were basically the same! I did a follow up timing with the radiators opened. The time to the end of the main was about 45 seconds slower than with the the radiators closed off. This still seems pretty reasonable.

The drawing and picture show the final configuration. After getting these mounted I realized I have left a possible place for water to collect. That is at the 1/4" - 1/2" coupling. I may rework this if I suspect a problem, otherwise I will wait until summer when I will change the tapping to 1/2" for the Gortons while having some other work done on the piping.

I am open to any suggestions or observations of something I may have missed or that could be improved.

Thanks,
Harry

Fred

It may be just the angle of the picture but it looks like that Main is pitched the wrong direction??? If it is pitched away from the vertical return pipe, that Main could be a source for hammer.

HarryL

Fred - Yes that is just a funny angle due to the camera position. I didn't notice that when I chose it to post.

I mentioned hammer as some other post (that I can't find) suggested that having the vent at the end of the dry return might cause some hammering. Or they may have been referring to something else. There does seem to be more noise in the system, but I also think I may just be more sensitive to it now.