Steam Heat - New boiler = New Annoying noises

adholmes11

Hello,
Unfortunately the original steam boiler in my home(from 1950s) cracked I needed to replace it. Since it has been replaced, the noises from the steam meeting condensed water have increased ten fold and the radiator farthest from the boiler is now making a rattling noise that is coming from the angle valve. I purchased a new valve thinking that would solve the issue, however upon inspecting the new valve, the stopper in it is also free moving and by wiggling it with my finger it makes a similar noise to what we are hearing come from the current valve on the radiator. What causes this and does anyone have suggestions on how to fix it? The rattling is loud enough to wake me up and not allow me to sleep. The noise stops when the air vent is releasing air but immediately starts when the vent closes. It also sounds as if the steam is "pulsing" in the room. The radiator still heats up fully and the air vent is functional. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

KC_Jones

Did the installer skim the new boiler? Hint this would have been hours of them slowly trickling water from the new boiler.

Sounds like you are surging which is a classic symptom of the boiler not being skimmed. What does the near boiler piping look like (pics will help). Many time these issues are caused by something in the basement and have nothing to do with where you are hearing the noise.

The pictures will also help to make sure they didn't mess anything up on the install. How did they size the new boiler? They should have measured all the rads in the house and sized according to that.

Abracadabra

Was boiler properly installed? Was boiler properly skimmed?
What pressure is the boiler achieving during a cycle?
What's the near boiler piping look like?

Pics?

Damn... @KC_Jones beat me to it must have been typing at the same time.

adholmes11

Hey Abracadabra and KC_Jones, attached are pictures. I do not know if the boiler was skimmed when installed. The company I contracted handled sizing and install. Attached are pictures of the new boiler and piping into it.

adholmes11

EzzyT

Your boiler is piped incorrectly, correct that skim the boiler and then go from there

KC_Jones

That hole with the insulation is where the skim tapping would go, since the insulation is intact I would guess they didn't skim so that is for sure part of the problem.

Also the boiler isn't piped correctly. As near as I can tell it's 2" piping and that boiler (if it's the 125 model) is supposed to have 2 1/2" at a minimum. You are most likely getting wet steam which is compounding the problem. The mains should preferably be brought into the header individually as opposed to being tee'd together like yours are. Also the return piping connection (Hartford loop) is supposed to use a close nipple where it connects to the equalizer. With that long connection it could or does bang.

The pipe size and Hartford loop are both in the manual for that boiler so the contractor didn't even read the manual that tells them how to do it. These issues potentially void your warranty if a failure were to happen.

New England SteamWorks

Ironman

In addition to the problem of the long nipple on the return connection, you need to make sure that the radiator valve is open all the way and that the radiator is pitched down slightly towards the valve. If not, condensate may be getting trapped in the rad.

Another possibility is that there may be sludge trapped in the riser to the rad. This can happen if the piping has been flooded or if the riser is sagging and not pitched correctly. It will trap condensate and give the pulsing/panting sound that you're hearing from the vent.

The boiler should have been piped using 2 risers and 2 main connections to the header as was pointed out. The way it is now, water can be drawn up into the mains be cause the steam velocity is too high.

Here's what a properly piped header looks like:

happydave

Unfortunately it's not piped correctly ,there's always going to be an issue sorry