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Radiator vent sounds like a sinking ship....

wildrage
wildrage Member Posts: 187
edited December 2017 in Strictly Steam
Vent is a year old. Pressural set to .5 with a 1 swing. What does this mean? Need a bigger vent? need a smaller vent? This is a 3rd floor radiator, the 2nd one on a tee. This is the only one to make this noise. I have one other radiator that vents rather 'aggressively,' but nothing like this! No water seems to be escaping from vent.

3rd floor is an old maids quarters, so I don't really care...just wondering if it's a symptom of something bigger. Also thought some might find it entertaining :)

https://youtu.be/ZpsKSQwxmdo

Comments

  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    That's a Hoffman #40. They are good, slow vents. Being on the third floor, there is at least 20 feet of vertical supply pipe plus whatever run-out there is from the main. You can try a little faster vent, maybe an adjustable one like the Vent-Rite #1. or you can try washing that one out. It may just have some crud stuck in the orifice.
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,177
    Either that or there's water collecting somewhere in the piping.

    Change the vent first. If that solves the problem, great. If not, need to investigate further.

    How did the pipe leak in the ceiling work out?
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
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  • wildrage
    wildrage Member Posts: 187
    Steamhead said:

    Either that or there's water collecting somewhere in the piping.

    Change the vent first. If that solves the problem, great. If not, need to investigate further.

    How did the pipe leak in the ceiling work out?

    @Steamhead leak in the ceiling was fixed. Local guy charged me $150. It was a previous repair from 15 years ago that failed. Old Chinese elbow. Through a bunch of help on this site, I got rid of the water hammer on the radiator on that riser by changing venting, so hopefully I won't have to touch that pipe for a long time.
  • wildrage
    wildrage Member Posts: 187
    edited January 2018
    Fred said:

    That's a Hoffman #40. They are good, slow vents. Being on the third floor, there is at least 20 feet of vertical supply pipe plus whatever run-out there is from the main. You can try a little faster vent, maybe an adjustable one like the Vent-Rite #1. or you can try washing that one out. It may just have some crud stuck in the orifice.

    @Fred I'll try a larger vent. FYI this is the radiator that is next up on the tee, from the offending radiator with the water hammer (and the leaking ceiling pipe), that I was troubleshooting last month.

    The heat comes up very fast on the 3rd floor, and the 2nd floor radiator gets hot, but sometimes not across the entire radiator, depending on the call for heat.

    Will making that 3rd floor vent larger possibly solve both problems?
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    @wildrage, radiators don't necessarily get hot all the way across with each heating cycle. It depends on the length of the heat cycle and the size of the radiator. That is a small radiator on the third floor. I would try the next size larger vent on the second floor radiator. That may make it vent fast enough to heat fully and also may vent enough air out of that riser to stop the whistling.

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