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Two pipe steam adjustable valves.

Chapstick
Chapstick Member Posts: 64
in Strictly Steam
Hey guys. I hired a guy to rebuild about a dozen really old adjustable valves for me. Long story short, he beat me for $350 and threw the valves out. It's a shame too, they were of the highest quality. Just needed to be rebuilt.

I replaced the valves with regular looking valves. They are single pipe valves is what I'm gathering. From what I understand the two pipe system's claim to fame is that you can adjust the temperature of the rooms by adjusting the valve. Well these valves don't do that. Even at the smallest of a turn the baby's room shoots up to 85 degrees while the rest of the house is actually pretty even with the thermostat set at 70 degrees. Fortunately I had the foresight to get a baby monitor that tells me the temperature and sets off an alarm if it goes out of the zone I set it at.

I've looked all over and I cannot find the same style valves as the originals for sale anywhere. They had a small wooden handle and what appeared to be an acme thread that opened and closed them.

The wife has been keeping the windows in the baby's room open and that keeps the room at about 78 degrees with a fan going while the rest of the house is right around 70 degrees. Problem is the baby is very dried out and I was reading that if there is constantly cold air coming in and being heated up it creates very dry air. Something about the cold air cannot hold moisture like warm air can and that warm air actually absorbs moisture from around the house over time making it a good moisture level. I put a humidifier in there but it doesn't seem to be helping. He's really unhappy and I'm going crazy with all the crying.

All the traps have either been replaced or rebuilt and I repiped all of the returns in the basement, added f&t traps, installed a vapor-stat, and repiped all of the near boiler piping using the lost art of steam heating book and the boiler manual. The system runs like a clock aside from this issue. Any thoughts are welcome and thanks for reading.

Comments

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,314
    The easiest solution would be to install orifice plates in the valve unions- you can get these from Tunstall, and drill them out to size.

    And make sure you give the guy who ripped you off as many negative online reviews as you can. Not sure it's worth taking him to court.................
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,495
    The radiator might be too large for the room, is there a chance radiators have been moved? Some systems used orifices at the inputs of radiators to limit the amount of steam.

    Have you tried draping a heavy blanket over that radiator to see if you can reduce it's heat output?

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Chapstick
    Chapstick Member Posts: 64
    Great idea bob. I'm going to go do that right now. Orifice plates. Genius. I'll look into them. That's a damn good idea. Start off with a small drill bit and go up in size until it's good. Sweet.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,254
    If you know your max op pressure and the EDR of that rad here is a sizing chart. I would start out at only 50%. I get the orifices with a 1/8" hole to use as a centering pilot guide. If you put them in a 3/4" union with a nipple screwed in one end then that is your "vice".
  • Chapstick
    Chapstick Member Posts: 64
    Thanks for the tip jughne.

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