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new apartment -- steam riser air vent help

nybk222
nybk222 Member Posts: 2
edited December 2017 in Strictly Steam
I'm looking for some help regarding a steam riser and the proper way to vent it.

Background: I recently moved to top floor of a 7 story, ~70 unit apartment built in the late 50's. My unit has, what I believe are, four single-pipe in-wall fin tube radiators and a steam riser in the bathroom. The unit has no thermostat or control over the heat.

When I moved in, the riser had an air vent that was installed directly off of the pipe, wedged in a corner and completely painted over. When the building heat turned on a little over a month ago, the vent blew a hole through the paint and was releasing hot air and steam non-stop, and making a ton of noise. I was able to get my super to replace the air vent; the replacement unit had no manufacturer markings, but I think it was possibly an angled Maid-O-Mist with a #6 aperture. Unfortunately the replacement unit wasn't a major improvement over the previous vent, and while I was inspecting it, the body completely sheared off from the threading.

The issue: I was able to find and install an inexpensive Gorton #4 as pictured HERE. It does a significantly better job in terms of noise, although it hard to tell if it ever actually closes. While 90% of the time it appears to only release air, occasionally I'll see it spitting and dripping water from the vent hole. I suppose I should mention the riser itself has absolutely no trouble heating up.
  • Is this a sign of a faulty vent, or is there something else to my situation?
  • If I swap it out for something with a larger aperture like a Gorton D, would that make the problem worse in terms of leakage and noise?
This is just one of a few issues with the heating in my unit, but that's it for this topic. Thanks for reading!

Comments

  • This seems like a sign of a faulty system. The vent of a properly functioning system should be silent, and close when steam arrives.
    Get the super to log on here for some advice which will save his employers 30% in fuel cost, and make the tenants like you more comfortable!--NBC
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,162
    What @nicholas bonham-carter said. What he's getting at is that the chances are, from you description, that the pressure is too high.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Kahooli
    Kahooli Member Posts: 112
    If you have lots of money to burn, put a 1-5psi steam gauge on it and see
  • JohnNY
    JohnNY Member Posts: 3,226
    @nybk222
    It's a common thing to see in Brooklyn buildings. Over the years, Supers with just enough knowledge to make a mess of things have drilled and tapped risers to accommodate air vents that work well on radiators but don't do very much for a distribution riser. If the noise of the vent or its spitting water bothers you, take the vent out and put a ⅛" black or brass pipe plug in its place. If the riser needs to be vented, a proper tee fitting should be installed somewhere along the line, or fitted at the top at the last radiator connection, to accept a *main* type of air vent.
    I consult on Brooklyn multi-family buildings all year long and the problems and failed attempts at solutions repeat themselves incessantly from address to address.

    Contact John "JohnNY" Cataneo, NYC Master Plumber, Lic 1784
    Consulting & Troubleshooting
    Heating in NYC or NJ.
    Classes
  • nybk222
    nybk222 Member Posts: 2
    Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm afraid any sort of comprehensive, actual building fix is probably not going to happen considering how long it took to get where I am now.

    @JohnNY Can you recommend a main vent? From what I've seen, many of these appear to be larger than 1/8" NPT; would it work to step the size up using an adapter fitting?
  • JohnNY
    JohnNY Member Posts: 3,226
    nybk222 said:


    @JohnNY Can you recommend a main vent? From what I've seen, many of these appear to be larger than 1/8" NPT; would it work to step the size up using an adapter fitting?

    Once a nipple is screwed into a ⅛" hole, you're left with very little for the elimination of air. You would be far better served by using a drill and tap set to make the ⅛" hole larger to ⅜" (I'm assuming the pipe in question is 2" schedule 40 which has a wall thickness of 0.15") and install a Gorton #2 or similar vent with a ½" x ⅜" black steel or brass reducing fitting.

    Contact John "JohnNY" Cataneo, NYC Master Plumber, Lic 1784
    Consulting & Troubleshooting
    Heating in NYC or NJ.
    Classes
    nybk222