Still new to Steam Heating, need help

Frankfog2

Hi,
Last year i moved from Oregon to Long Island, I had radiant heating so Steam is brand new to me. Last year i encountered some spitting vents, thankfully the old owner had a bunch of extra vents in the basement, i did some research and learned to place the vents with the smaller holes on the first floor, and the bigger holes on the second floor. So i have 5 #4 vents on the first floor, 2 C vents on the second, and 1 D vent in the attic. Today i turned the steam on for the first time and found some suspicious things 
1) There was no water visible in the sight class, but there was water in the boiler, it took about 10 seconds to see water in the sight class
2) The house smelled horrible for the first 30 minutes
3) The boiler continued to run even after the thermostat reached the temperature, i set the thermostat to 68, once the thermostat read 68 the boiler ran an additional 5+ minutes.
4) This weird box thing next to the gauge has very low numbers, the Main is at 1.1 or maybe even 1.0, and the diff is 0.5. 
5) during the extra run time, some of the radiators began hissing, but i didn’t see spitting, i just heard them. Especially one of the outlier radiators which is very very small compared to the rest of them. 
I hope someone can help answer my questions, steam is a different animal.

Fmassarotto_9

Frankfog2 said:

Hi,
Last year i moved from Oregon to Long Island, I had radiant heating so Steam is brand new to me. Last year i encountered some spitting vents, thankfully the old owner had a bunch of extra vents in the basement, i did some research and learned to place the vents with the smaller holes on the first floor, and the bigger holes on the second floor. So i have 5 #4 vents on the first floor, 2 C vents on the second, and 1 D vent in the attic. Today i turned the steam on for the first time and found some suspicious things 
1) There was no water visible in the sight class, but there was water in the boiler, it took about 10 seconds to see water in the sight class
2) The house smelled horrible for the first 30 minutes
3) The boiler continued to run even after the thermostat reached the temperature, i set the thermostat to 68, once the thermostat read 68 the boiler ran an additional 5+ minutes.
4) This weird box thing next to the gauge has very low numbers, the Main is at 1.1 or maybe even 1.0, and the diff is 0.5. 
5) during the extra run time, some of the radiators began hissing, but i didn’t see spitting, i just heard them. Especially one of the outlier radiators which is very very small compared to the rest of them. 
I hope someone can help answer my questions, steam is a different animal 

I posted something similar to this earlier, 
I can try to help with some questions. 
First, the easiest one to answer, some odor is normal at first.
The weird looking box you mention is a pressuretrol. Based on what others have said here, your numbers fit within what others recommend 
My sight glass always dries up over the summer, I heard that’s evaporation. Especially if it’s a slow process, and if your basement gets hot that could explain. 
Number 5 is my issue, the radiators never make a peep until the very end, everytime i hear them start hissing i check to see if the thermostat is at temp, then i shut the thermostat off. For some reason, the boiler continues to run even after the thermostat reaches my desired temperature. This afternoon for example, at 5:15 it reached 68, and 540 the thermostat finally clicked off 

Big Ed_4

The steam boiler is designed to run at 1/3 water level on the gauge glass . If you see no level and the glass looks magnified the boiler is over filled .

I would check the cycle setting in the thermostat . Maximum of three cycle per hour will be the steam setting.

As the boiler produces steam it expands into the system forcing out the air though the steam vents . The steam will first fill the main with the larger "main" vents. When the steam enters the steam vent it is designed to close .Once the main is full the steam will travel up the risers toward the radiators and fill the radiators at the same time and rate . Once all the radiator steam vents close, the pressure build up tells the burner to shut down .

The Steam pipes were designed to be insulated . I assume the old asbestos pipe insulation was removed . Reinstalling the insulation would increase efficiency and settle out the system ..

Steam is a hand on system ...

gfrbrookline

The smell you are experiencing is likely because the previous owner painted the radiators right before the heating season so it didn't have a chance to cure so they could make the place look nice before the sale.