Big Mouth air vent update

Sailah

I would think that is unlikely but I'll ask.

Jack M

Amazon does not have an inventory an this time (Nov 15, 2017). Has anyone heard when they will get another shipment of Barnes & Jones Big Mouth Air Vent?

Circa1902

Following this thread to see if I can get Big Mouths soon, if not I will have to go with the Gortons.

New England SteamWorks

I think very soon. There are plenty in stock now, but Peter The Great has left the building and Andrew has taken over. I think Andrew just needs to find the time to get them over to Amazon...

Sailah

A little birdie told me today they sent 50 in and another round of 100 after that. If thats not fast enough you can call the factory.

JohnNY

I showed a picture of one of my installed Big Mouth vents to the students in the class I give in NYC and one of them busted out laughing because my guys "put a trap where an air vent goes". There was no convincing him the BJ-3BM was an air vent and it generated a lot of discussion, especially when I explained that every steam trap starts out as an air vent. Good stuff.

Sailah

Well I guess technically you are both right, the Big Mouth would function just fine as a trap. I don't know how well the silicone seat would cope with typical debris though.

mikeg2015

Question... maybe it's been answered before).... is the Big Mouth pretty much a radiator trap turned sideways?

Sailah

Sort of. The body is custom machined to accept an O ring seat which is necessary to get a true dripless seal. Our first go at it we used the stock seat machined into the body from the larger Mepco 1" trap. This has some saying that the vent would drip a few drops so we decided to go to a silicone o ring. We also made the orifice much larger than a typical 3/4" radiator trap.

But essentially, other than what I described above, the Big Mouth is a radiator trap turned sideways.

Fred

Trap or not, It's the best vent I've ever had!

Sailah

A request please:

From this point forward if you have a question about the Big Mouth, please email Bill at bnesbitt@horlick.com

PLEASE, do not call Andrew, he was spending all day on the phone and it was interfering with his work. I deleted his phone number.

Thanks

Peter

BobC

I can imagine he must have ben going nuts.

I used to be sitting at my desk at 6:30 every morning and I got more work done in that 90 minutes than I did for the next 8-1/2 hours because of the damn phone. This was back in the day when if you were out on the production floor you would have to walk by a doxen workbenches to reach a phone. That made it hard to get things done on the floor.

Bob

IGonza

I'm sorry to ask my question here, but I'm not sure it's worth the new thread.

Can Big Mouth be installed not vertical but horizontal? (I just don't have enough room...)

Fred

No, has to be Vertical. If you don't have enough room, go with the Barnes and Jones Varivent. It is a shorter main vent and adjustable.

ChrisJ

> @Fred said:
> No, has to be Vertical. If you don't have enough room, go with the Barnes and Jones Varivent. It is a shorter main vent and adjustable.

why does it have to be vertical? I think it's preferred but I don't think it's life or death

Fred

@ChrisJ , If I recall correctly, @Sailah said they would drip if they are not vertical

ChrisJ

> @Fred said:
> @ChrisJ , If I recall correctly, @Sailah said they would drip if they are not vertical

Yes
But I don't think it's the end of the world. Guess it depends on what's under it

Sailah

As long as the disc is flat in X direction it will work. So if vent is placed like a "trap" it would be ok, but not on edge.

IGonza

Sailah said:

As long as the disc is flat in X direction it will work. So if vent is placed like a "trap" it would be ok, but not on edge.

And the opening should face up or down? I'm sorry, I don't know how "trap" is usually placed like.

Sailah

Sorry.

If the vent is orientated with the blue label facing upwards (like a radiator trap), it will function fine. However it won't allow condensate to drain as effectively as if the tailpiece were pointed down like you see most have installed.

Where it won't work is if vent is clocked in such a way to where water will allow to pool in the vent. If you laid vent down on a table, with label facing you, female NPT threads facing away from you and tailpiece pointed to one side or the other, water will pool in the vent and cooling the disc. This orientation wont work

Mad Dog_2

Great Invention Sailah...I concur, you deserve an award for a great leap foward in main venting. If you can make it to Me & John NY's Big Ugly
On 28 April in NYC, I'll buy ya several rounds!
Mad Dog

Danny Scully

You and @johnny?! You asked me to do it first @Mad Dog!

Sailah

Mad Dog said:

Great Invention Sailah...I concur, you deserve an award for a great leap foward in main venting. If you can make it to Me & John NY's Big Ugly

On 28 April in NYC, I'll buy ya several rounds!

Mad Dog

I'll work on it, and thanks! I think I'll be down in NYC a lot more with SteamIQ based on the interest we have in your great city.

I usually drive down and back in a day which doesn't leave a lot of time for socializing!

Paul48

Stay...........It's a business expense!

adasilva

BMV delivery by end of day today! Is it odd that I'm dying from anticipation like a kid on Christmas Eve...........

Dan_NJ

adasilva said:

BMV delivery by end of day today! Is it odd that I'm dying from anticipation like a kid on Christmas Eve...........

...The stockings were hung by the flue pipe with care in the hope that a Big Mouth soon would be there...

You'll not be disappointed, it's a very nice unit!

Steve_210

Has anybody got a link to these vents
Just want to see what they look like dimensions etc.

Steve_210

OK found it on Amazon .
I presume they could also be used as crossover traps in a two pipe system
Just need to be careful with System balance

Sailah

Steve said:

OK found it on Amazon .
I presume they could also be used as crossover traps in a two pipe system
Just need to be careful with System balance

Barnes & Jones makes a specific crossover trap based on Big Mouth but without silicone seat. Has brass seat.

PN: BJ-2CR 1/2" Big Mouth Crossover
BJ-3CR 3/4" Big Mouth Crossover

You need to order direct from factory, it's a bit like ordering Animal Style from In-N-Out Burger. Speak in hushed tones, you will get puzzled looks, but just say:

"Sailah sent me"

Steve_210

Great info thank you

ImYoungxD

FYI, Amazon will have Big mouth on 2/18 but you can start ordering now.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F26P13C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mad Dog_2

Peter..Big ugh? Mad Dog

Sailah

Mad Dog said:

Peter..Big ugh? Mad Dog

Engrish. Speak it.

crawas

Hi guys. I currently have a gorton #1 main vent and I just ordered a big mouth from amazon. The main vent is about 30ft away from the boiler and I’m told that the gorton is way too small and my rads are not getting hot quick enough. How do I install the big mouth? Just put some Teflon around the threading and screw in like a regular radiator air valve?

KC_Jones

The big mouth vent is in 2 pieces. There is a tail piece or spud and the vent itself. They are joined with a union nut. To install you separate the 2 halves, screw the tail piece (circled in blue) and with the union nut (red) on it, into your main with PTFE tape or pipe dope. You will need a 5/8" Allen wrench to tighten it. After that attach the vent (black) with the union nut and tighten, do not over tighten the joint. I'd suggest hand tight and maybe an 1/8-1/4 turn with a wrench.

crawas

I need an Allan wrench? It looks like a basic channel lok pliers to just twist it on? What exactly is the Allan wrench tightening?

KC_Jones

The allen wrench goes inside the pipe, the ID of the pipe is a hex not round. There won't be room for pliers.

Gsmith

after taking the vent apart you will see that the spud had a 5/8" female hex where the allen wrench is used to tighten the spud into the femaie NPT pipe fitting. I've heard some people use a corrrectly sized hex bolt head to insert into the female hex to tighten it if no 5/8" allen wrench is available (tighten using pipe wrench on bolt shaft after head is in the allen recess).

crawas

I guess I have to see it to understand it because I can’t envision this.

crawas

Are there any videos out there? Or any detailed pics showing this?