1 one pipe in a 2 pipe system

Wayneg

I'm trying to stop the 1 pipe radiator from spitting water from it's vent valve. I want to know the best part of the system to tie it into.... wet return or way down the header....so far both locations are giving me water squirting during the 6 psi cycles. I am desperately considering tying in below the water level but I think I'll get nothing out of this 1st floor 1 pipe radiator...... it's been there before I got into the large 2 story building.
Any help will be immensely appreciated.
Thank you

neilc

Wayneg said:

water squirting during the 6 psi cycles

/\ this says it all,

why are you at 6psi ?
turn the pressure down to 0.5 cut in, and 1.5 cut out,
post pictures of your Ptrol

neilc

and of the pigtail,
and 1 of the entire boiler and pipes above, floor to ceiling

EBEBRATT-Ed

6 psi is way to much pressure, All the older steam systems were designed to run at 2 psi or less. 1 1/2 is better. That's you biggest problem and the first place to start

Check the pipe and the radiator pitch and lower the pressure. Most vents won't work at 6 psi

Jamie Hall

WHAT psi cycles? 6 psi? That's at least three times higher than the pressure ever should be in a residential system.

Step 1 -- get your pressure down to no more than 2 psi at cutout. Preferably slightly over 1.5 psi.

Now step 2. The vent is probably toast. Even one shot of 6 psi probably cooked it, repeated ones almost certainly did. Try a new vent. And a slower one.

Step 3. Now go and check the pipe pitch feeding that radiator all the way back to the main, and check that it's shutoff valve is fully open.

Having gotten that far, now I will ask -- what are you trying to tie into the system somewhere else?

Wayneg

Waaaaw you guys are fasttt, thanks lots for the wakeup 😋. Im not there and agree the pressure must be lowered and will adjust the prtrl, clean pigtail, etc, etc tomorrow. The one pipe guy is above the boiler room  with a 1 1/4" off the header so I was concerned he was getting too much of the pressure and wet steam causing him to squirt a lot. I'll get down there tomorrow and give the system your recommendations.....oil burner BTW so I even thought about the flame nozzle being too big as a possibility to look at last.
Invaluable help, thank you gentlemen👌👍😎

Wayneg

I was thinking about removing the radiator line tying into a different location on the piping in the boiler room.

Wayneg

The tie in is not too involved as there's a fair amount of copper piping already in the return part of the system down there

Jamie Hall

The wet steam could be a problem, depending on the near boiler piping. If that's not good and that runout is directly off the header, you could be getting a lot of water up in there. Got a picture of the near boiler piping? We always like pictures...

The location off the header won't affect the pressure much -- but the unduly high pressure overall certainly will.

mattmia2

Pressure that high can push water out of the returns and the supply and in to the mains.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Wayneg

If the boiler constantly is building pressure and cycling you need to check the main vents. Also have your service company check the oil burner and see if it can be downfired. It must have a combustion test after that

Wayneg

Ll

Wayneg

I cleaned the 2 pigtails adjusted the manual reset to 4 psi and adjusted the cut out to 2 psi. I later removed the variable orifice plug from the maid o mist vent on the single pipe radiator and I think it's not going to spit anymore because it's allowing all the condensation to go back to the wet return faster

mattmia2

Is that return under the problem radiator above the water line? It looks like that vent may be someone's misguided attempt to solve a problem.

I would be very surprised if there weren't a lot of failed traps and vents in this system looking at the general condition.

neilc

how about a distant picture from the burner side, top of the boiler to the ceiling,
not sure of that riser / header,
and then, the venting out the back,
way(why) horizontal and long,
is there a power venter involved?
are there CO detectors?

Wayneg

Yes the copper pipe at the very top is to the 1 pipe radiator and was removed from the plugged point on the header to just above the water line in the copper return.

Wayneg

Correct, I have to get replacement vents for every radiator some are waterlogged and others stuck shut

Wayneg

I would still like to have the firing rate looked at professionally, the poor thing doesn't even have a safe pipe on the prv... system needs some TLC

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Wayneg

They should fix the barometric damper in the boiler flue pipe. That control needs to be level and plump to work right