What radiator air valves do you recommend?

adamfre

On my 2 pipe, no trap, air vent system, I've got side mounted air vents on the radiators. Some of them will probably wind up being bad. (They are ancient) What brand / type does everyone out there recommend?

BobC

A lot of people like the Gorton air vents, I settled on the Maid O mist because they sell a kit that comes with 5 different sized orifices so you can tune the system. This is cheaper then guessing what size Gorton to put on each radiator.

https://www.amazon.com/OMIST-0220-5L-Angle-Steam-Valve/dp/B003DV3AGE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1476271894&sr=8-2&keywords=maid+o+mist+air+vent&th=1

Your main air vent should be looked at as well, they are often too small and that just drives up the fuel use.

Bob

ChrisJ

I'm a Gorton man my self.

Until @Sailah starts making radiator vents, anyway.

BrianT1077

I have adjustable Vent-Rite # 1's on all 11 of my radiators and have no problems with them. I do have 4 Gorton # 1's on an antler on my large main and 1 Gorton # 1 on my small main. I am getting ready to dump them, they are replacements on the antler and still spitting steam. I recently had @Dave0176 over my house evaluating my steam system and he was talking to me about Barnes & Jones main vents. I might consider them. Here is a link to the Vent-Rites, I got them from this site, and not a bad price.

http://www.hvacrsupplynow.com/VENT-RITE-1-STEAM-AIR-VALVES-ADJUSTABLE_p_1787.html

Sailah

ChrisJ said:

I'm a Gorton man my self.

Until @Sailah starts making radiator vents, anyway.

Lol, I'll start making them when politicians are honest.

KC_Jones

Sailah said:

ChrisJ said:

I'm a Gorton man my self.

Until @Sailah starts making radiator vents, anyway.

Lol, I'll start making them when politicians are honest.

That's not the answer we wanted.

Sailah

KC_Jones said:

Sailah said:

ChrisJ said:

I'm a Gorton man my self.

Until @Sailah starts making radiator vents, anyway.

Lol, I'll start making them when politicians are honest.

That's not the answer we wanted.

Well, it's just that vents like those are made so cheap it's a losing battle to make them.

We make our compact trap as a vent for commercial steam cooking equipment and those are seriously rugged. But they are also a fair bit larger than a radiator vent. And a lot more expensive. But it would work and work really well. I'd venture a guess that it would shave a lot of time off getting steam to the radiators. For size, it's the same as our Vari Vent, but without the screw cap.



We only make thermostatic elements, not bimetallic and it's hard to package those in a slender air vent.

Pumpguy

I can supply Tunstall 1P adjustable vents if anyone is interested.

These are nice because you don't need to change orifices, just
turn the dial to change the venting rate.

Send PM for more info.

Fred

The Hoffman 1A is also dial adjustable. I've used them for 25+ years and had good luck with them

adamfre

looks like what I've got now is Burnham No. 1 adjustable vents... I'm assuming they may be kinda old .