Never a dull moment in steam heat.

Double D

Here are some pics of a job I went to look at today. I replaced a section of main on an emergency call here a little over a month ago. Today was the day I set up with the homeowner to go over the system. The first radiator at the front entrance had a Hoffman 17c. The second radiator I looked at in the living room had a Dunham 1E. The rest of the rads in the house had no traps but look what they did have. The rad valve in the pics is only on one of the radiators in the house. The rest have been replaced over the years.

Steamhead

This is what keeps us steam freaks going. Where is this system located? Can we get a close-up of whatever is inside those return fittings?

Double D

I'll be on the job today. Vaporstat and venting. I'll get close up shots. The only other name is Safety Vapor on the one rad valve. The house is located in Buffalo.

Steamhead

OK- that explains the logo on the valve and return fittings- it's "SV". This brand doesn't appear in the Barnes & Jones trap guide. It would be interesting to know more about this company- were they local to the Buffalo area?

Steamhead

Also, in the third of your original pics, we can see two places where the floor was plugged, maybe when the original radiator was replaced. Are there any other unusual radiator hookups there?

Double D

I couldn't wait to get back on to post pics of the unusual radiator hookups. Maybe they thought it was a 2 pipe air vent system. This is a radiator in the dinning room. Both valves are shut off for the time being, there's much more to take care of first. I also have pics of the last original valve and the return cap. I have a pen pointing at a tiny orifice hole on the side that leads to a 1/8" hole that runs top to bottom of the cap. When the cap is screwed down, there is a gap at the bottom which allows water to drain through the hole in the bottom of the body. I ran the system long enough to get all the rads steam hot and none of the dry returns felt like they even had temperature in them. Today I insalled a Vaporstat and vented the dry return. The last original rad valve which is not an orifice valve needed to be replace since it was blowing live steam. The 2 mains are tied together at the ends forming a loop. At the low point where they join there's a 3/4" drip that drops below the basement floor, goes under a doorway and back up near the boiler. It was almost completely plugged. There are no end of main vents. As far as the near boiler piping goes, another case of the installation manual used for a kneeling pad. Although there's more to do, the system is now silent. When it was running at 31/2lbs, it sounded like the house was jumping up and down on its foundation. I definitely have my work cut out for me.

I don't know if Safety Vapor is local to the Buffalo area.
The floor is plugged from an original radiator. All of the rads in the house are 3 column 9" deep and the one in the sun room is a modern 5 tube 6" deep rad.

Steamhead

Wow.

My guess is that outlet fitting is some sort of self-draining water seal. ISTR the Mouat water seal was self-draining too.

Can you tell if any of the other rads were replaced?

Double D

None of the rads in the house have been replaced in the time the present homeowner has owned it. They had the dinningroom rad moved when they had a sliding door installed. The rad in the picture with the rad valves on the supply and return side. They also had the kitchen rad moved when they remodeled the kitchen. The plumber who moved that rad used all of the original fittings above the floor but he moved it 3' and piped the entire 11' run out in 3/4" pipe/ no insulation for a 35EDR rad. The lower pressure must be maintaining the water seal. After lowering the pressure in the system with the vaporstat, all of the hammering went away.