radiator fountain

oldchurch

We have a combination 0ne pipe and two pipe steam system in the church with a couple Modine blower/radiators (Model C375-01) We are getting water fountains when the boiler first starts up. We are considering replacing the steam vent on the radiator (Hoffman 71A), but catalogs list this as a 1 pipe vent. There is a angle valve (post-vent) (SarcoSirus A125) that we have tried cleaning (presuming it may not be properly functioning). But no success. I can't find anything about the radiator, or if the Sarco valve creates an effect of a one pipe system. Any help would be appreciated.

Fred

Are all the valves on the one pipe radiators fully open? They must be for condensate to drain back to the boiler? What pressure is the system running? When did this problem start? Did anything change around that time? Is the radiator in question pitched slightly towards the drain side (if a two pipe) or towards the supply side (if one pipe)? Pictures of the boiler, near boiler piping and the radiator in question would help.

Sailah

I've never heard of a Sarco Sirus A125 but you say this "valve" is after the vent? Could you take a picture and post it?

That looks a lot like a Spirax Sarco RTA125 and that would be a steam trap since you say you have 2 pipe steam.

Does it look like this?

oldchurch

Yup. The number stamp on the cap/plug is cocked and not fully on the cap.

oldchurch

The problem just came up recently. We had a few problems with a couple of single pipe radiators in the past, but were fixed by opening fully the radiator valve, or replacing the vent. The run from the boiler to this corner of the church (about half of the full run) is single pipe with double pipe from the crawlspace up to the linear radiators. In this corner, the system works with a double pipe in the crawl space. There is a Modine electric blower in the entryway and it is double pipe. On this unit (after the radiator fins) is a vertical Hoffman 71A vent. It continues to the valve indicated above by Sailah. We pulled the plug and cleaned it off as best we could. It is a coil spring valve that I presume is heat sensitive. Anyway, it still spurts out some water when the radiator is heating up. I questioned whether the vent valve is correct, as Hoffman lists it as being for a one pipe system. I will need a day or so to be able to post pictures, but will work on that. Thanks for your help.