Reliable steam vent

IGonza

This probably is already discussed several times, but I had bad experience with almost all vents.. so not sure what to try next.

I'm trying to make one of my vent as quiet as I can. It's located next to the bedrooms and makes some noises...

1. Varivent. Spit the water (not much) and died in 1 year - doesn't close anymore. I had 3 more in the house, all do not close after 1 year. I tried to clean them, no luck.
2. Unknown brand from Homedepot. It whistles during air release and it opens back before any other, so whistles even more when breaks the vacuum in the system.
So I changed it to Maid-O-Mist
3. Maid-O-Mist with pretty big opening (I have a set of different covers, so the size can be changed). It's much quieter than 1st vent, but makes releases small amount of water, that makes some noise. This happens after boiler stops on pressure and restart again. Another thing that I cannot explain, after a week or two, if I unscrew it, it has amber water inside.
4. New Hoffman 40. It's very quiet during releasing the air. Steam hits the vent, it clicks and closes. Then after 15-20 seconds it opens for 1-2 seconds , release some steam and closes right away. No sound on breaking vacuum process.

Recently, I bought 1 Maid-O-Mist (different from #3) and it's dead form the start, doesn't close at all. Later, I bought Hoffman from #4 with strange behavior.
My old vents Dole were there when I bought the house. They work much better than anything new I bought and I don't know how old they are. But I know previous owner didn't care about the heat at all. So they are several years old.

Is there anything reliable? I feel like I play the lottery.

Thanks

Dave0176

Most of us use Gorton vents, however the Hoffman 40s are good vents too if you can deal with the clicking on and off.

IGonza

I saw many people recommend Hoffman, that's why I bought it. But it opens and closes after steam hits it... couldn't find an explanation.

delta T

Gorton is my go to. If the hoffman opens and closes after steam hits it, you may have some issues with the piping, possibly a dud vent, but hoffmans are pretty reliable so I would guess not. I have had an excellent experience with Gorton.

Mike Cascio

I like ventrite vents quite a bit. The #1 vent is the most precise adjustable vent and very quiet. The #11 is a great fixed rate vent slightly faster than a hoffman 40 but not as fast as a gorton 5. They are made in the USA and they dont spit like the gortons. Downside is they click.

New England SteamWorks

I think we need to see what is going on with main venting and near boiler piping. I think the issue(s) likely resides there.

brandonf

Just from reading Dan's books makes me think there's too much velocity in the steam and you might have some very wet steam. Piping issues? Boiler Sizing? Pics. Pics. Pics.

IGonza

Here is my previous thread about the main vent location. I replaced only one of them. Second has not enough room for big vent. And I don't want to cut the pipe in the middle of winter.
It has some pictures. Nobody mentioned any problem with the look of the piping.
https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/164293/main-vent-location
Some facts:
1. Boiler runs on 12oz cut off, 6 oz cut in.
2. Boiler does shot cycling, but only after all radiators are hot and all vents are closed. So it should be a big issue.
3. Boiler oversized by 33% based on EDR comparison.
4. The system is not quiet. Some vents hiss sometimes during short cycling, but not loud.
5. Mains are insulated

Let me know if I can provide more info.

Could you explain me how high velocity in the steam can lead to the behavior of my Hoffman vent?