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Steam Radiator not full

Dianapagu
Dianapagu Member Posts: 9
in THE MAIN WALL
Hi all!

Hoping to get a possible solution to my radiator issue from all you pros! I have a one pipe steam heating system in a two family home.  We only moved in two years ago so these radiators are quite old and painted over but there wasn't an issue last winter. This winter now we noticed some leaking, Luckily we were still able to unscrew the the connecting nut since we also noticed with a level that it seemed a bit too pitched, had to cut our flooring so it drop a little. Then reconnected it , turned heat on and no leaking but now the radiator only gets steam up to the first 3 sections, 6 sections total. 
The radiator is located on the second floor and the air vent is a #6 that faces toward the front of the house. Hoping someone has an answer. Added a picture of the radiator in qurstion.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,842
    When you lowered it, did you make sure that you did NOT lower the end with the connecting pipe, and maintained adequate pitch across the width of the radiator? It may be choking on condensate...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,470
    I think what @Jamie Hall is thinking is that if you took out some flooring and lowered the end with the pipe you may have inadvertently lowered a pipe under the floor which is now collecting condensate causing the rad to heat less.

    The correct way is to bring the end of the rad with the pipe up to the original floor level and then check the pitch. If the end with the pipe is not the low end then raise the end opposite the pipe.

    It is normal for rads not to always heat all the way across depending on the weather
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    May be just the picture but that valve looks like it is in the closed position???
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,380
    The leak at the union would have let air out as well as water. So the steam would have gotten TO the radiator much more quickly, and the radiator vent did the rest.

    If that were my job, I'd look at the overall air-venting picture to see if the mains were properly vented. A #6 Gorton or Maid-o-Mist vent on that size radiator seems a bit much.
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • Dianapagu
    Dianapagu Member Posts: 9
    @Fred I can see how in this picture the valve may looked closed but it is opened. 

    @EBEBRATT-Ed, @Jamie Hall I circled where I cut a bit of the flooring , should mention the floor is the vinyl locking flooring type which seemed to had added just too much of a pitch in that area . When I cut the vinyl floor so the legs would drop a little the level bubble was more centered and no more leak after attaching it back to the valve. 
    I also was thinking that maybe it didn't heat all the way because of the weather. The weather was not as terrible ,but wasn't sure to go with that as the reason since the rest of radiators on that floor heated all the way. 

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