1 Pipe Steam Heat Problem

aporta

Hi,

I found your info on heatinghelp.com

I am a home owner in Garfield NJ and am having trouble balancing our 1 Pipe Steam Heat System. 

 

The 1st Floor is where I live and there are 5 Radiators on this floor as well as the thermosdadt.

The 2nd floor is where my tenant lives and she has 4 Radiators. 

The Steam Boiler is in my basement.

The problem we are having is my tenants apartment is getting very hot (Upwards of 78-80 degrees) when the thermosdat is set to a normal temperature of say 69 degrees. 

In the 1st floor the heat sometimes doesnt even kick in on the 1st floor radiators but my tenant is complaining its very hot in her apartment.

The 2 rooms upstairs she is complaining most about is the bathroom and her master bedroom as these are the two rooms that get the most hot while the other rooms in her apartment are comfortable. I believe these two radiators are also very close to the boiler, it is located just below the 2nd floor in the basement.

All the radiators have vari valve adjustable air vents except two upstairs have hoffman adjustable air vents (which I put these in new last month).

Do you have an idea of what the problem may be?

mattmia2

What does the main venting look like? You need to vent the mains quickly to be able to balance the system with radiator vents.

Problems with the system piping holding water or near boiler piping issues could also slow the heating of part of the system.

Jamie Hall

Most likely two problems. First, is there any main venting in the basement? If there isn't the radiators are trying to do all the venting and that never works well. Second, you need much slower vents on the radiators which are overheating (assuming, of course, that the radiators downstairs to heat eventually). Start by slowing your tenants radiators down. Hoffmans are tricky to adjust, though they do adjust well -- throttle them back as far as they will go. Then, and only when you have the upstairs throttled back, and some main vents on if you don't have them, try faster vents downstairs. Take your time doing this -- in one pipe steam a change in one vent somewhere will affect the whole system, so it may take some patient fiddling.

Big Ed_4

Normally the upstairs is cooler with a larger heat loss . These may work

Mad Dog_2

Welcome.  Any pictures would help.  Mad Dog 🐕 

Long Beach Ed

Almost always can be solved with proper chosen quality vent valves.

On some systems, the thermostatic radiator vent valves are the only answer. We were just confronted by a three family building that would overheat the top floor, no matter how we vented it.

The unique feature was that the vertical risers were one-size larger than typical. Installation of thermostatic vents on a few of the bigger radiators upstairs solved the problem.

Mad Dog_2

TRVs are great but should be used sparingly I think.  They are not the panacea 
many enthusiastic folks think. Straighten out all the obvious problems before you spend good $$ on them.. I usr Tunstall/Macon Controls very good American Quality from Chicopee Mass. The Owner Woody sometimes answers the phone...old school gotta love that.  TRVs are the cherry on the sundae 🍨 😋 , not the Rocky Road.   Mad Dog 

EdTheHeaterMan

@Mad Dog_2 I usually give my grandson the cherry on whatever ice cream desert I order, Sometimes he just takes it before I even know it was there. He is 4 years old and loves to play tricks on his PopPop. Also I tried Rocky Road ice cream once, not a fan. I prefer Beryer's Vanilla with a little Hershey's chocolate drizzled over it.
I am still figuring out what this has to do with radiators that get too hot? If you put your ice cream too close to the radiator, it won't be ice cream anymore. Just sayin'