Barnes & Jones Big Mouth Vent

BrianT1077

Today I received my Barnes & Jones Big Mouth Vent via Amazon. It feels solid and very well built, unlike the Gorton # 1 which feels tinny. Wish I could test it on my system but it is 80 degrees outside, and I am actually running the A/C so that is not happening. I have 4 Gorton # 1's on an antler for my largest main which the B&J is going on and they all spit steam and water and they were replaced under warranty for doing the same thing. This weekend the temp is going to drop into the 40's so I will install it then and run the test. Anyone out there who has this vent, what are your opinions? From what I read and researched on here, they are all favorable. I heard about this vent on here and also this vent came recommended from @Dave0176 who evaluated my steam system in the past few weeks.

Paul S_3

I have about a total of 8 out there so far and love them.....they also have an adjustable varivent its a little smaller i sometimes install on risers....heres a few pics

Fred

I bought five of them for my system, two on a long main, one each on two other mains and one on a branch off of one of the mains. I did have multiple Hoffman 75's on my system and I can't wait to see how these perform too. It's been in the 80's here too. They are extremely well built and they are rebuild-able if they ever need to be.

New England SteamWorks

I've put in dozens. No question in my mind they are the finest main vents available. No reason for Gortons any longer.

Neild5

I put 2 at the end of the long and very under vented main, it cut the time for the steam to get to the end by 66%. I still need to find a place to add at least 2 more on that main and 1 on a branch off that main.

BrianT1077

Thank you for the great responses everyone, I really appreciate the strong faith in the product that we the end users or your customers give. When I took it out of the box yesterday I felt it was a well made quality product.

gerry gill

no one else can touch the quality, that is for sure. We just got in another dozen of the big mouths and a dozen vari vents.

Sailah

Thank you again for all the nice comments and testimonials. And let's not forget this was a collaboration of many on the Strictly Steam board to come up with a better product. None of it would be possible without the suggestions, brainstorming and testing of many of you.

I welcome your feedback on Amazon, your comments and ratings help answer many of the questions in a central location.

Peter

BrianT1077

Today I swapped out the 4 Gorton # 1's for the Big Mouth Vent. Tested everything, so far so good!
Before:

After:

mookie3333

Got a big mouth this week, going to try it this weekend. Not anticipating any problems, so, were can I dump my 2 gorton #2's??? Definitely spent over $150 on them..

BobC

The quality of the bigmouths is just so much better than any other vent out there.

Bob

Fred

@mookie3333 I've been running my boiler for a week now with my Bigmouths. The first night I just wandered around the basement and marveled at them. They work beautifully. I replaced a bunch of Hoffman 75's. I'm sure you can find someone here that hasn't seen the light yet and will take those Gortons off your hands.

zackwatt

So should I replace my two Hoffmans with two big mouths?

BobC

The bigmouth has 4X the venting capacity of the 75 so if you need more venting, go for it. I have had two Hoffman 75's start leaking steam within 18 months of being installed, as far as I'm concerned they are junk.

Bob

zackwatt

BobC said:

The bigmouth has 4X the venting capacity of the 75 so if you need more venting, go for it. I have had two Hoffman 75's start leaking steam within 18 months of being installed, as far as I'm concerned they are junk.

Thanks for the info Bob. I can hear one of the 75's when it is venting the air, so i'm guessing that's an indication more venting is needed on that line.

With a two pipe system like mine, where the condensate lines are vented though the condensate pump (as shown in the diagram below), what are the advantages/improvements I can expect with faster venting mains?

zackwatt

To follow up on my comment above:

I do have some radiators at the end of the line that seem to take a very long time to heat up. I suppose the radiators can't begin purge the air down the condensate lines if the steam takes forever to get to them via the main line!

BrianT1077

The Big Mouth vent has been working great, I have not had to add any make up water yet.

tlowc34

I pulled the trigger today and got 5 of these from Supply House
with a last minute switch from Gorton #2s, but then I got to thinking - Will vacuum pull them open and allow air into the system? My 2 pipe trane system pulls a vacuum and I think it makes sense to keep it that way.

ethicalpaul

Anecdotally I can say that mine breaks after my Gorton #1 does, but I'm not sure if it's breaking due to vacuum or due to temperature. I think my radiator vents and/or my Gorton #1 (on the same main) relieve the vacuum before the Big Mouth opens.

hboogz

Just converted a single piped systems dry return into a went return and added a big mouth. So far so good. Works great

Sailah

Vacuum won't pull them open just temp about 15 degrees below saturated.

adasilva

I have two and they are the best upgrade I've done!

mikeg2015

> @Sailah said:
> Vacuum won't pull them open just temp about 15 degrees below saturated.


Yes. On larger vapor systems, you can get a lot of whistling if you’ve sized down all the vents on the radiators... as you should.

You can add a vacuum break to the end of the antler.