Balancing Steam Systems Using a Vent Capacity Chart

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Balancing Steam Systems Using a Vent Capacity Chart

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Answerman

This used to be sold for $15, is it considered free now? I don't see a pay wall or any information about sending money (either here or on Gerry's site), so I'm guessing that's the case.

I want to share this with colleagues and contractors, but don't want to rip off Gerry and Steve for the work they did putting this great resource together, which is why I don't just send people the pdf. Please let me know if it's now okay to just share the pdf.

Fred

@Answerman I bought it a couple years ago. It was $10.00 at the time and that money went to a charity.

Answerman

Yes but right now it's just posted here for download, it says nothing about paying and there's no pay wall or link for paying for it.. @Erin Holohan Haskell, maybe you can clarify?

Erin Holohan Haskell

Answerman said:

Yes but right now it's just posted here for download, it says nothing about paying and there's no pay wall or link for paying for it.. @Erin Holohan Haskell, maybe you can clarify?

It's now available for free download. We once had a download for donation setup, but we can no longer do that with our current store. Thanks for asking. It's a wonderful resource and we appreciate Gerry and Steve's hard work and willingness to share their knowledge with all of us.

Dan_NJ

I've created an Excel spreadsheet version of this chart and included the B&J Big Mouth main vent if anyone's interested.

random12345

Great resource. Thank you both. Is there a typo on the Vent-Rite #1 settings? Setting 2 is .033 at 1 ounce and higher than Settings 3 and 4 as well as for those under 2 and 3 ounces. Is this right? Shouldn't it be lower than .020 at least? Sorry to nitpick, but I have 6 of these at home and will need to balance my system when the heating season starts.

Ventrite #1 Setting 1 Off Off Off
Ventrite #1 Setting 2 0.033 0.020 0.021
Ventrite #1 Setting 3 0.025 0.036 0.046
Ventrite #1 Setting 4 0.030 0.053 0.066
Ventrite #1 Setting 5 0.045 0.071 0.091
Ventrite #1 Setting 6 0.056 0.091 0.116
Ventrite #1 Setting 7 0.070 0.108 0.133
Ventrite #1 Setting 8 0.083 0.125 0.158

Jamie Hall

Does look like a typo. That said, it's all relative -- use any column, so long as you always use the same one.

Then... also keep in mind that that will give you a first cut on balancing. You will find, unless you are astoundingly lucky, that the system will still need tuning and further balancing.

random12345

One more question: My pressuretrol is set to 1.5 psi with a diff of 0.5. Should I use the 1, 2 or 3 oz. column?

Jamie Hall

It really doesn't matter which column you use -- what you are interested in is the relative capacity of the vents.

As I said before, the best that the charts will do is get you sort of close, and you will have to adjust from there. Be sure the main vents are big enough -- it's almost impossible to overvent a main -- and then proceed.

4130bronxwoodboiler

new to this site you guys are great have a lot of reading to do.

bthvac

I really appreciate you Dan, thank you.

Onepipe

Hey all, this is my first post. I fell across the balancing steam systems doc a few years back and I am excited to use it on the next job. As I read over the doc all information nessary seems to be listed other than how to find out how much cubic feet of air are in my particular type of radiator. On page 3 paragraph 4 it reads “The radiator has .013 cubic foot of air for each square foot EDR. Multiply that by 40 sq. ft. and you’ll see that you have .52 cubic feet of air inside the radiator when it’s cold.” The math makes sense but is there a book or doc out there that lists radiator sqft EDR capacity’s for venting? thanks much

Waher

You may have to find old product literature for various radiators. Try the internet archive www.archive.org for old catalogs or the heating museum "radiators" section of this website.
https://heatinghelp.com/heating-museum/category/radiators

Example:
https://heatinghelp.com/assets/documents/American-Radiators.pdf

Burnham/OCS/Governale have similar product literature with the EDR ratings for various current and vintage radiators.
See this PDF.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/catsy.782/Radiation+Classic+Slenderized+Radiant.pdf

Onepipe

Waher, thanks for the help. I’ll get to researching. I see that there is a book out there called every darn radiator, by chance could that be a resource? Any experience using it?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/099647725X/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

looks like it may have a lot of data in one place.  

Also this may be a dumb question but what does EDR stand for? I know it is a heat loss raiting, but never knew what it stood for. 

Onepipe

This is the style of radiator I am working with. It looks like an American.

Jamie Hall

EDR stands for "Equivalent Direct Radiation" and is more or less the surface area of the radiator -- counting all the ins and outs. As such, it is very closely related to the heat output of the radiator; at steam temperatures, 240 BTUh per square foot (it varies with the temperature of the water, of course, for hot water use).

DanHolohan

Gerry and Steve were so gracious to give us permission to offer their remarkable work here for free some years back. They have helped saved many a steam system. Thanks again, guys!

SteamingatMohawk

The data for the chart I occasionally post comes from the report, along with some other source information to help in the comparison.

Let me know if anyone thinks it would be useful in the HH library. If so, I can send the file to Erin to add it.

Mad Dog_2

Add to the archives!!!!!!  Mad Dog

Onepipe

Thanks for the help all. I’m getting closer to finishing up balancing. So how do I convert EDR to cubic feet of air in the radiator so I can complete the vent calculation as in Gerry and Steve’s document? It all make sense until “ The radiator has .013 cubic foot of air for each square foot EDR.” what I’m asking is how or where do I find the cubic feet of air for a given radiator? Of is .013 the number we always use?

thanks……the lightbulb is starting to flicker….:)

SteamingatMohawk

Thanks, Mad Dog.

Jamie Hall

that 0.013 is a sort of general number. Close enough, since none of the numbers are better than a pretty good guess anyway.

Onepipe

That’s what I needed!! Thanks for the help….time to sharpen my pencil.