Why cant I use Gorton Ds on the main vent

acl10

Do you need Gorton 1 or 2 Whats the difference between the ones marked for main vent and the others?
Is a Ventrite 75 a good valve?

Steamhead

First off, how long is the main you're trying to vent, and what pipe size?

acl10

I think its 2 inch. I just wanted to know if there is a difference between the valves they call main valves and the other valves or are the interchangeable.

Shalom

Supposedly the Gorton D is the same size aperture as the Gorton 1, but it has the 1/8 NPT side thread where the 1 has the 3/4" bottom thread. If you can use a 1 you can use a D, but the likelyhood is that neither of them are large enough for a typical main, besides which, the 1 is meant for vertical installation at the top of a pipe whereas the D is meant to attach to the side of a radiator, so if you wanted to use it as a main you'd need to put an elbow and a bushing, because it has to operate in the vertical position.

(edit: they're also different colors.)

The main vent in my parents' house is a couple D's on an antler. I know it's not big enough, but it's a whole lot better than the tiny Dole that used to be there, and I will be putting a Big Mouth on there pretty soon.

nicholas bonham-carter

Download the chart of vent sizes here, and see how different they are in capacity.
Generally the rule of thumb here is one Gorton #2 for each 20 feet of 2 inch main.—NBC

BobC

The Ventrite 35 is a good vent but it's just too small in venting capacity to do much good. I think one Gorton 1 or D has 3x the capacity of the 35.

Bob

mikeg2015

The main vents may tolerate debris a little better. Especially the big Gorton 2.

Steamhead

The Gorton #1 and #D will vent about the same amount of air. But if we know how long your main is, we can give you better answers.

acl10

Can I drill out the hole on a Gorton to make it bigger so it will vent more?

Steamhead

No. The internal hole in the valve seat is the same size.

acl10

The main is about 40 feet. Can you drill a bigger hole in the Ventrite 75?

nicholas bonham-carter

2 Gorton #2’s would be my recommendation.
Have you timed the steam arrival from hot header to furthest radiator getting hot? Correct main venting will reduce the burn time needed to get the steam to the rads. Depending on some variables, such as the number of heat cycles you may have in a winter, you can reduce your fuel consumption quite a bit by getting the main venting sorted out.—NBC

Fred

You can't drill those vents out. Well you can but they are then trash. There is a valve needle inside them that plugs the orifice. Make the orifice larger and the needle can no longer seal it.

acl10

How many Gorton no 1 will equal the opening of a 1/8 pipe connection. I have to 1/8 connections on the end ofy main drilled into the pipe. To take full advantage of the 1/8 opening how many Gorton d or 1s will equal 1/8 opening

Fred

A 1/8th inch hole will vent 1.2CFM @ 1 ounce of pressure, 2.0 CFM at 2 ounces of pressure and 2.5 CFM at 3 ounces of pressure. That is equal to about 3.5 Gorton #1's but that if the 1/8" pipe is OD, then the inside demension is a little less and you need to leave room for condensate to drip out of the vents so I would say it is equal to about 2 to maybe 2.5 Gorton #1's

JUGHNE

If you sneeze into an 1/8" pipe you could plug it, very small ID.
A 1/4" is easy to tap into a pipe and will handle a Gorton #2.

You should have 2 G2's on your main of 40'.
You would get the most bang for the buck doing that.
The little vents would help but the key word is little.....as in too small.

acl10

I also put a vent on my return near the boiler near the ceiling. When the boiler starts up you can hear the air until the pipe fills with water.