Wet Steam...Bad Piping?

ccretella

Heat is on and I am finding myself back on the wall. I had my boiler replaced a few years back and...after spending a lot of time trying to balance a system that has never quite worked right I am thinking that I have some bad piping. My recent problem is a dribbling radiator supply valve. It is a newer valve but a cheapo Home Depot one. When the radiator gets going it starts to dribble at the nut where the valve from the floor meets the spud from the radiator. It came to my attention because the radiator wasn't heating up due to a bad Varivalve. I replaced the valve with a Gorton #6 to give that a shot (2nd floor bedroom) and it sounds like a jet and is squirting a bit as well. I think i have really wet steam. Here are some pics of the near boiler piping. Any thoughts. Anybody know of a good steam guy in central CT? Anywhere in CT for that matter?

aircooled81

I think your return is clogged.
I just guess that your condensate is not leaving the radiator, and wants to go back down the steam line it came from, rather than the return. That nut may have always leaked steam (clear invisable gas) but condensate is not invisable.

BobC

Is this single pipe steam? If so, check the radiator to be sure it a some pitch so water can find it's way back to the boiler and do the same for any horizontal pipe that carry steam.

What size is that boiler and what is the attached EDR?

If tightening the bonnet nut doesn't stop the leak you may have to loosen that nut and replace the packing.

Bob

Jamie Hall

I almost hate to say this -- the man is so busy -- but @Charlie from wmass works in central CT, and is one of the best in the business. Give him a try!

nicholas bonham-carter

Noisy vents would indicate too high a pressure, so check the pigtail, at the least, at the minimum, or get a 0-3 psi gauge, and vaporstat.--NBC

Fred

As has been said, check the pigtail, under the Pressuretrol to make sure it isn't clogged, make sure the pitch on that radiator is towards the supply side (if a one pipe system) or to the drain side (if a two pipe system). Make sure the Pressuretrol is set to .5PSI cut-in and a differential (white wheel inside Pressuretrol) is set to "1".
When you bought that Home Depot supply valve, did you change out the spud on the radiator also? The valve and spud come as a matched set and an old spud will not mate with a new valve. Also, those cheap Home Depot valves, while they are marketed as 1", or 1-1/4" or 1-1/2" valves, the inside of them are usually much smaller than a good quality valve and that size difference will cause water to pool in the bottom of the radiator. Not good.

Dave0176

The near boiler piping is wrong.

Abracadabra

Can't see how they would have properly skimmed that boiler. I see lots of oils in the gauge glass.

Ironman

Both boiler supply tappings should have been used on the Mega Steam. Burnham's near boiler piping kit is well worth the money: it has everything needed already cut and threaded exactly right. It would cost 3 - 5 times if you try to make it on site.

Steamhead

From the looks of it, they installed the smoke pipe before they did the steam piping. It goes right above the second steam outlet.

Here are some threads with pics of properly-installed MegaSteams:

http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/148292/megasteaming-by-the-river

http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/144144/latest-megasteam

http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/135345/megasteaming-on-marylands-eastern-shore

A.J.

follow the piping instructions that comes with the boiler before you do anything to the system. Use Steamhead's pics to guide you and you'll fix it up, and don't forget to SKIM it off ! We just let one run for an eight hour day.