That Soothing Sound...

jmob77

Before the season this year, I checked all of the (Gorton) vents in my radiators and they all seemed fine; I could blow through them easily, and the closing mechanism sounded like it was moving freely inside the vent.

However, the two in the back of the house make a fair amount of air noise before they get to temperature. Is this a problem with the smaller vents themselves, or is this what it sounds like when you don't have enough main venting?

There is a vent on the main which supplies these radiators in question, but it is boxed in by a renovated ceiling in my basement (work that was done before I bought the house) and I simply haven't had the time to open it up and see if can add more venting to the main. I know it's in there because the box that covers the main, along with some electrical lines, has a metal mesh covering the bottom and I can hear the main vent doing a bit of mild hissing itself.

Can I live with this for the rest of this winter? Is there any reason to replace the vents on the radiators?

Fred

Can you tell what the main vent is? It does sound like maybe it's a small vent and a larger one will likely help. Certainly it can wait since this heating season is coming to an end. As a side note, make sure the Pressuretrol is properly set and the pigtail (looped pipe under the Pressuretrol) is not clogged. Excessive pressure can cause those vents to sound like that too.

jmob77

Pigtail is clean and pressuretrol seems to work fine. I need to put a low-range gauge on to see what I'm really getting; my 30psi gauge, which is new, doesn't register anything at all!

EBEBRATT-Ed

As @Fred said most likely you need more venting on that main so it can be a summer job.

There is another way if you cant get to that vent and that is to remove the angle radiator valve and install a tee with vent on it. A "top of the riser vent" as described in the LAOSH. then use a straight radiator valve between the tee and the radiator.

Some might complain about the apearence, but is a way out if you cant access the vent

steamedchicago

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

As @Fred said most likely you need more venting on that main so it can be a summer job.

There is another way if you cant get to that vent and that is to remove the angle radiator valve and install a tee with vent on it. A "top of the riser vent" as described in the LAOSH. then use a straight radiator valve between the tee and the radiator.

Some might complain about the apearence, but is a way out if you cant access the vent

You can also put a vent on the valve side of the radiator. When steam hits the radiator, that valve will close fast, while the radiator is still largely filled with air. The regular radiator vent can then do its job of venting just the radiator. This can be a lot easier to do then replacing the valve(s). Most radiators have either a plug or a boss that you'd drill out and tap for this purpose.

nicholas bonham-carter

I like the supply side rad valve idea, or...
If you remove the bonnet of the inlet valve, and then remove the valve stem; you can probably tap the hole which is left for a big radiator valve.--NBC

Fred

The vent on valve side of a radiator will certainly help that particular radiator. It won't do much for the other radiators on that main. As a matter of fact it may really throw the balance off as that vent will feed the one radiator a lot faster than the others. He has a main vent, that he can see through a wire mesh. His best bet is to put a larger vent in that location.