What type of vent is this? Should I keep or toss?

matthewb84

I am attempting to balance my system today - I have three of these along with two No 1 Vent Rites (adjustable), and one standard looks like HomeDepot vent, non adjustable .

Are these any good? Should I scrap them and go with all Vent Rites?

Please advise!

Gsmith

Looks like a varivalve by heattimer.com. THese vent valves vent VERY fast and are often the cause of difficult to balance steam systems. They were for me. I much prever the Vent Rite No 1 adjustable valves, but a lot depends on your overall system, particularly on the venting of your steam mains and whether or not the steam mains and near boiler piping are insulated.

nicholas bonham-carter

Are your main vents capacious?
I would concentrate your efforts there first, after replacing that one radiator vent.
The advice from the Gorton website is NOT the way to go about it. Max out the mains and put slow venting on the radiators. After a few days of observation, you can increase the venting on any slow rads, (maybe on the top of tall risers).—NBC

Fred

Get rid of those Varivalves. They vent way to fast for virtually all radiators. Vent-Rites are good replacements.

matthewb84

Sounds like a plan - I have that one radiator that virtually gets no heat.

I am checking pitch of that run later but also swapping out some of the vents to see if it makes any difference. Might try the varivalve on the cold radiator to see if it helps, if not, I suspect its a bigger problem as many of members here think!

:-)