Can I use Taco 400-4 1/8-Inch-NPT Float Air Hy-Vent on a main vent

acl10

Can I use Taco 400-4 1/8-Inch-NPT Float Air Hy-Vent on a main vent? I figure it doesnt let the water out so it wont drip once it fills with water

JUGHNE

acl10, are you trying to vent a wet return?
If I understand, anyone please correct me...please, a wet return would always be full of water. It will not pass steam or air (if it has enough water height seal) and therefore does not need nor can not be vented.

We would vent only well above the boiler water level line (wet returns). There we would get first the air then the steam, which would close the vent, and seldom would see enough water to flood the vent. Just a theory......someone please correct me.

acl10

I put one on top of my wet return and its working. There is air in the wet return before it fills up. I am also asking about puring one on the actual main pipe

Ironman

Apparently, you're very confused about how venting on a steam system works. You don't use hot water vents on steam. Hot water vents work by the float closing the vent as water raises the float. Steam vents work by the temperature of the steam causing the element to close the vent. And yes, I realize that some steam vents also incorporate a float.

If you have air in a wet return, something else is wrong with the system. If you have water filling a steam main, something is very wrong that needs to be addressed.

How about posting some pics of your system that include the boiler, the piping, the vents and any other steam apparatus in the system?

acl10

Vent on top of my dry return near the boiler. One Gorton c and A Taco to keep the water from spurting out.

Grallert

If you're getting water to that 400 float vent, you've probably killed that Gorton. The real issue is why are you getting water up there in the first place?

acl10

The water is because its a return line. The upper pipe is from the uturn in the back of the house and it goes down and merges with the return from the front of the house. the vent helps get out the air before the condensate moves back into the boiler. The Gorton is working fine. It vents and closes after the pipe fills with condensate water. the vents smooth things along so the water returns faster and the automatic feeder doesnt have to come on.

acl10

I did a few of unconventional things to my system as you can see in my other posts. Thru trial and error and ideas I gleaned from these boards my system is working better then it has in years. I got rid of the water hammer and got the vents in and a few more things

KC_Jones

That pipe should not fill with water, the vent spitting isn't your problem. That amount of water being there to make the vent spit is your problem.

I have been reading a lot of your posts and I don't think you have actually fixed any of your issues. What you have done is cover them up so you don't notice them.

The other post putting a vent on your hot water system. That didn't fix the hammering issue, it just gave it a place to expand into, similar to the dead legs some plumbers put on shower valve installs.

If I get a nail in my tire and it is losing air, I can keep putting air in it and call it "fixed", but is it really?

I seriously think you need to make one post listing all the issues you were/are having and plenty of pictures of the entire system not all the close ups you have been posting. This way the forum can get an overall view of what is going on and offer some advice on how to actually fix your issues.

acl10

Its the water going back to the boiler. Why shoudnt it fill while its traveling back from the radiators.

Fred

acl10 said:

Its the water going back to the boiler. Why shoudnt it fill while its traveling back from the radiators.

For steam, It's condensate, it trickles out of the radiators and runs back to the boiler. The return pipes should never be full until the pipe drops to the boiler water level. Everywhere else the pipes have water running along the bottom of the pipes. The rest of the pipe is full of air, as it should be. At and below the boiler water level, it's full of water and there is no room for air.

For hot water systems, the pipes are full of water and there shouldn't be room for air in those pipes and if any gets in there, there are specific places where it can be bled, often times at the radiator.

KC_Jones

If it's filling the pipe you either have too much pressure, a slight blockage or too small of a pipe. A spitting vent is a system problem not a vent problem.

acl10

The boiler is near the back of the house so its gets alot of condensate at once from all the back radiators. Anyway if that is a problem what is the solution.

KC_Jones

The solution starts with identifying the actual problem.

What pressure are you running?
Are the wet return open and free of any blockage?
What is the EDR on that main and what is it's pipe size?
What does all the boiler piping look like, pictures would help here.
How high above the boiler water line are those vents?

Might be more, but that's what comes to mind right now.

Fred

It won't, or shouldn't get enough condensate to fill the returns. What is the Problem? Who can tell at this point? As @KC_Jones mentioned, post pictures of the boiler, the near boiler piping and the returns and Pressuretrol. We can't diagnose the problem without seeing as much of the system as possible. The hammer could be pipes pitched incorrectly, sagging or somehow holding water and when the steam hits it it hammers. Excessive system pressure can be the issue, pipe sizes could be the problem, near boiler piping could be the issue, or some combination of the above. It could be a simple fix or it could be significant. We can't tell from what we've seen and what you've posted.

acl10

Maybe next week I will post pictures.
.05 pressure. They arent always full of water only sometimes at the end when the boiler goes off and everything returns. I kow my boiler is not piped correctly but thats how I got it with the house and until I change it I work with what I have.