Distribution issues

Slash32487

I have a house from 1925. i already did my renovations. i think i made a mistake. i got some recommendations to keep the steam in the house. in a few areas i switched over to radiant. in any case. steam runs through the most of my home. ground floor and upstairs. the ground floor is pretty sound and gets pretty equal heat. upstairs the left side of the house gets a ton of heat more than downstairs and the right side of the house gets minimal. for example the living room area by the main thermostat it gets to 72 in my daughters bedroom it will be reading 78 and my sons bedroom reading 69 or even lower.

according to 1 specialist. i need to replace the main air vents and repair some of the leaks. . i called my he had similar comments to the specialist as to what needed to be done.
i was wondering if there are any ideas they are not considering.

Evaluation:
-There are a number of steam leaks from radiator shutoff valves and radiator air vents. The first radiator on right side foyer is leaking considerably and causing loud noise.
-The leaking may be causing the hot bedroom to overheat(in essence the steam never shuts off in that room). The leaking may be causing the imbalance of heat.
-The main steam pipes in the basement do not have adequate venting. This causes the steam to move slowly and contributes to steam imbalance.

KC_Jones

First we do not discuss pricing on this site so it is appreciated if you remove all that from your post.

Second are you asking which one to do?

The answer is this, the leaks need to be fixed. Leaks on a steam system slowly kill the boiler so they need to be done.

If you want the heat evened out you need to fix the venting. Vent the mains fast and the rads slowly is the rule of thumb around here.

How long and what diameter are your mains? If you give us that information we can recommend the amount of venting you may require.

1Matthias

First of all, we do not discuss pricing on this forum. Please remove the prices.

Second, yes, those leaks need to be fixed, ASAP. Leaking radiators/vents will cause excessive intake water, which will destroy your boiler. What pressure is the pressuretrol set to? (Small grey box with a scale on the outside and a dial inside.) I suspect it is set too high, as the inside dial should be set to "1" with the outer dial set to ".5". Could you post photos of the current main venting and the near-boiler piping? It is correct that undersized main venting can/will cause distribution and balancing issues, however there can be other root causes.

Jamie Hall

Yup. Step 1, the leaks. Not only for the water reason -- although that's reason enough -- but they also act as uncontrolled vents, and until they are fixed fiddling with the venting is pointless (but replace the vents themselves, if they are actually leaking -- get good ones)

Step 2. If they aren't already insulated, check all the steam mains and runouts for being straight and pitched correctly. Then insulate them -- 1 inch fiberglass.

Step 3. Attend to the main venting. It's really hard to over vent a one pipe steam system.

Step 4. Now you can attend to the radiator venting. The vents need to be sized both for the radiator, but also for the space. Slower vents -- less steam, less heat. Faster the opposite. However, it is better to go slower on rooms which have too much heat rather than trying to go faster on rooms which have too little. Also, adjusting the radiator venting correctly takes patience, as changing any one vent will affect all the others to some degree.

nicholas bonham-carter

First verify the pressure with a low pressure 0-3 psi, gauge, and set the pressuretrol under 1.5 psi.
Any remains leaks will probably be in the valve packing nuts, so tighten or repack with graphite string.
Next verify the main vents are allowing the air to escape at less than 2 ounces, during the initial phase of each cycle.
Finally insulate the supply pipes, after verifying their correct slope.—NBC