New gorton vents not closing

Pat H

Recently I replaced all eight of my radiator vents with Gortons (sizes based on calculations from the vent chart), but much to my horror I found that ALL of them were not closing when steam hit them. The radiators will get hot all of the way across, the vents too hot to touch, with piping hot steam blowing out the vent holes, indefinitely.

I did some testing on a hot radiator, and the old vents close within a few seconds of opening the shutoff valve, but the new ones stay open. I confirmed the pressure tops out at 1.5 psi per a 0-3 psi gauge, but even before pressure builds, you can feel steam coming out of them. The steam is coming out the vent holes, not leaking at the radiator.

Tried cleaning one in vinegar, but that didn't help. The box they arrived in was pretty beat up, so I thought perhaps they got tossed around too much, so I sent them back and got replacements, but the replacements do the same dang thing! I emailed Ken at Gorton, and other than sending some to him to test there, he did not have any ideas.

Assuming that something horrible has not gone wrong with Gorton quality control, does anyone have any idea what could cause this behavior? The old vents that work fine are a mix of varivalves, maid-o-mists, doles, and things I can't identify. It seems impossible that all of the old vents could appear to work fine while all of the new Gortons (twice over!) have this problem. I assume that I'm wrong about something that I think I've ruled out, but I can't figure out what.

nicholas bonham-carter

Are you certain the pigtail under the gauge is clear?
These symptoms seem to be pressure related.--NBC

jbmoff

Pat H,
I just replaced two of mine, AND they seem to be doing the same thing. I replaced two Maid O Mists that we're starting to go bad. Nonetheless, it seems the Gortons are WORSE. My pressures are set as they should be, pigtail cleaned about three weeks ago and all the other vents seem fine. My mains are vented correctly, too. I use a few Hoffman 1As, a #40, and the others are Gorton. I'm going to test them again today and see what the problem seems to be. I may put the Maid O Mistsback!

Mark N

Pat, how cold has it been that the rads are heating completely across and closing the vents? Is your boiler oversized? Does this happen every cycle or only when recovering from a setback? I would consider 1.5 psi to be excessive, I never see the pressure on my system exceed 1 oz. My Gorton's never leak. Get the pressure down.

jbmoff

This only happens to mine with setback recovery. Maybe Pat's is the same issue...?

Pat H

A setback recovery is indeed the only time that I typically build pressure and when that happens the problem is VERY obvious, but after some testing with a tissue, I can still detect steam coming out before pressure is built up.

I only recently installed the gauge, and I confirmed the pigtail was clear at the time. Given that I can feel steam coming out before pressure even builds, though, it seems like it couldn't be pressure?

nicholas bonham-carter

How much setback are you recovering from?
Is this for comfort or supposed economy?--NBC

Mark N

Pat, is it steam or just hot humid air? The rad should be condensing all the steam. I myself don't use setbacks, they can be problematic. Most experience overheating when recovering from a setback. Also because the rads are completely heated but the thermostat is still calling for heat the boiler will start cycling. It will cut out on pressure, then the pressure will quickly drop to the cut in and it will cycle the boiler back on. This can happened repeatedly until the thermostat is statisfied. If you want to use a setback you should possibly consider getting a Ecosteam boiler controller. ChrisJ uses one.

Steamhead

It's possible that they had a bad batch. This has happened to us with every brand of vent out there. As far as taking care of things like this, Gorton does very well, and that's one reason we use their vents.

Mark N

According to the the Gorton web site all vents are tested and checked with live steam for proper operation before shipping. So how does a bad batch happen? Maybe they need to look into their testing procedure. I wonder what pressure they are tested to.

Steamhead

I don't know how they're tested. Maybe some inadvertently got shipped that didn't get tested. But I do know if any bad ones get past them, they'll make it right.

I recently worked on a house where I'd installed Gorton vents maybe 12-13 years ago, and they're still working perfectly. Can't beat that, eh?

hvacfreak2

I just bought 2 D vents , 1 works fine and 1 does not close.

Mark N

My Gorton vents are 6 years old and don't leak. I have 6 #1's on my mains and an assortment of 5's and 6's on my rads. None of them leak as far as I can tell. My water usage per month is around 20 to 30 ounces. If vents were leaking in would be much more.

ChrisJ

Contact Gorton's support and they will help you.

Contact us
GORTON HEATING CORPORATION
546 South Avenue, East
Cranford, NJ 07016
908-276-1323
908-272-5881 (fax)
info@gorton-valves.com


I would call.