48°f this morning in NYC. I'm going to officially call this Heating Season 2016.

JohnNY

I've already got two emails this morning (it's 5:30 am) from families saying their banging pipes woke them up last night and wanting to know if there's anything that can be done to quiet them down. After explaining there's always a fix often concerning some combination of pitch of pipes and radiators, pressure settings, venting, clogged return lines, piping configuration, etc, I'll ask the client to "consider buying this great book written by Dan Holohan that demystifies your steam heating system for you."
Everyone is always appreciative of the soft sell, but typically folks come back for the site visit and consultation/report.
Last year I did a lot of thermal imaging to expose bad radiant floor heating installations. I'm hoping I'm as busy this year.
I love this time of year. Good luck, heating professionals, and stay safe.

njtommy

Yes it's our time of year again. I love the fall and winter weather along with every thing that goes with it.

Ironman

36* here this morning. Weather service is predicting the same for the next two nights. Looks like fall may be here.

STEVEusaPA

Despite newsletters, letters, phone calls, they all call the first time they put their heaters on.
"I'm afraid to put my heater on until you clean it. Can you come out today?"
I'm about 2 weeks out just on annual service. Then you'll get the customers who didn't want to fix or replace things all summer who just decided now is a good time.
And they all call and say the same thing..."Before you get busy, can you...?"
Every year, just as JohnNY stated, first couple of cold nights.

Jamie Hall

Years ago when I actually had paying job, I had a sign over my desk which said..
"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part"

But I suppose that that was poor customer relations, eh?

Cedric has been running -- happily and well -- off and on for the last couple of weeks. Gets chilly in the mornings up here in the hills!

Canucker

Jamie Hall said:

"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part"

But I suppose that that was poor customer relations, eh?

Aha! I knew I had heard this excellent quote on here. Although, my managers don't share my enthusiasm for it when I drop it on them

Harvey Ramer

AKA "stiff Flux weather"

Mad Dog_2

Ready to rock. Mad Dog

Gordy

40 here. Seen 38 for a low 3 days ago. Have yet a need to turn the heat on. 65 base temp must be for some real wind tunnels.

John Mills_5

We're still trying to get the last of our A/Cs done, putting furnace cleans into November. Yes lady, you can turn your 2 year old furnace on before we clean it!

JohnNY

@John Mills

John Mills said:

Yes lady, you can turn your 2 year old furnace on before we clean it!

So funny. I find myself trying to get this point across to a handful of people every year.

Mad Dog_2

Plumbing and heating are always put on the back burner. The panicked calls are rolling in.....ha ha. Mad Dog

montek

hello people- yes it is cold in NY again- and thank goodness with my steam system and cast iron radiators- I drained the furnace(boile) last week and now the water in the sight glass in the boiler is clear- and when the hat came up- there was no banging--- ahhhh- now here is my real question---

Hello people-- I have a question I hope someone can give me an answer too-- I have steam heat- you know the one with the boiler that has a sight glass that the water moves up and down in when the heat is on. The rooms are all heated by cast iron radiators and each one has I think what is called an air vent that is screwed into the middle of all the radiators. Now the house is a small cape cod house in Long Island,NY. Now when the heat goes on - the living room and kitchen get pretty comfortable as well as the small den and small bedroom on the main floors. But there are 2 rooms upstairs - and only one gets warm- that is my sons room because his room is even though upstairs- is directly over the furnace in the basement. whereas my daughters room is on the other side of the house and I guess by the time the thermostat hits its temperature her room is just starting to get the heat- I guess because of the configuration of the pipes to where the furnace is?? Someone told me to close the air vents somewhat on the radiators that usually get hot faster so that less heat will get to them and then to open my daughters radiator vent all the way so that hers would have no blockage for the heat to get to hers?? is this correct - and if so I checked my daughters air vent and it is a clock shaped item with no lever for me to either open the vent or close it?? What do I need to do???

JohnNY

The advice you're being given is essentially correct, though the method is wrong. You will likely fix your imbalance issues via venting changes which will allow the steam to travel toward the lagging radiators more effectively. Shutting or partially closing the shut-off valves on the radiators will not help. You'll be best served by treating the system holistically and venting each radiator according to its size and considering its current vent size/type and how well it's heating now. Water quality, pressure settings, horizontal main piping vents, piping configuration, pitch of pipes, and other factors also play a role in effective steam travel, but for most homeowners, simply replacing radiator vents is a good place to start and may be all you need to do.

JohnNY

So, throw out all their air vents currently in place whether they're working or not or if the room is comfortable or not ?

montek

Hello Johnny-- thank you I will look into those vents-- but from your last statement is that a question or a suggestion? when you say to throw out all the vent I have now- because you ended your phrase with a question mark??? Do you really think I should throw those out-- and just a little fact-- thee air vents in place now are quite old - do you know how long they stay running efficiently for??

BobC

Air vents can last for a year or for 20 years, it depends on the quality of the vent and the condition of the system.

You said your vents were clock shaped, are they silver or copper colored? Is there a number on your vents? A smaller hole in the vent means it takes that radiator longer to fill with steam, a larger hole means it fills faster. A larger vent hole on your daughters radiator might help assuming there is nothing wrong with the piping etc.

Those VentRites that Hat gave you the link to are excellent vents. I replaced all the vents on my system a few years ago and because I couldn't find a good price on them I went with the Maid O Mist 5L that comes with 5 different orifices.




https://www.amazon.com/OMIST-0220-5L-Angle-Steam-Valve/dp/B003DV3AGE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477349149&sr=8-2&keywords=maid+o+mist+5L

I just looked at that link for the VentRites again and that really is a steal for that vent. As long as you don't need the higher vent rates you can get with the Maid O Mist's I'd snap them up. The ventRite tops out at 0.085 cfm while the MOM's top out at 0.340 cfm

Bob

JohnNY

montek said:

Hello Johnny-- thank you I will look into those vents-- but from your last statement is that a question or a suggestion? when you say to throw out all the vent I have now- because you ended your phrase with a question mark??? Do you really think I should throw those out-- and just a little fact-- thee air vents in place now are quite old - do you know how long they stay running efficiently for??

Though I'm not taking his bait this morning because I'm going to go out and actually work on steam heating systems today, that was a question to the person above who made the suggestion.
I asked because I'd imagine there are some functioning vents in the home now and I question the necessity of tossing away the baby with the bath water. The reality is that air vents can last indefinitely. When one of the few manufacturers was asked how they stay in business producing parts for an obsolete heating system, their answer was (paraphrasing) "As long as there are painters, people will need to buy air vents." It's not uncommon to see 20-year-old vents still functioning well.

That said, if an air vent were to fail because it has gathered up some debris and got fouled up over time it would need to be replaced.

montek

hello Bob- no actually all my vents are cylindrical like a pipe shape and have a sliding bar in the middle toward the top that can be slid from right to left - i guess to open or close the vent- while my daughters is the only one with the clock shape- and the button on top is sealed- there seems to be NO hole at all like a sealed air vent??

BobC

Those vents sound like Heat timer varivalves, they are very fast and can cause problems on some systems. Most systems run better with slow venting on the radiators and fast venting on the steam mains.

Bob

Steam

Montek- Make sure the boiler is off when you are swapping radiator air vents.

Even better, for testing, you can switch the ventrite radiator valve that is on one radiator downstairs, and put it upstairs in the coldest room. Take the other valve from the upstairs radiator and screw it into the spot where the ventrite is. (Use teflon tape on the threads, dont cover the hole with teflon, just apply it to threads)

On the upstairs varivent valve, open it about half way. Turn on the thermostat and see how the room heats. If this works, don't go crazy changing all your vents. Order another adjustable vent if you wish to do so, or if everything works afterwards, leave it alone.

montek

thanks to all for all the help

Steam

Any updates Montek?

Koan

I was hoping you could please wait on that call?
My radiators are still at the refinishing shop in Baltimore! Supposed to arrive tomorrow though. Still have to re-pipe the vaporstat and gauge (both pigtails were clogged), flush the wet returns, and put in new steam trap cages.