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One steam radiator burning hot, others just hot...

You all helped me with pressuretrol issues in the past so I come to you with possibly a stupid question but one I cannot figure out: last year, I checked the guide and bought the appropriately sized air vents for my steam radiators based on what floor they were on the distance from the boiler the were. (Peerless 63L) I noticed this year as the cold weather started to hit, my son's room (2nd floor) which is no more insulated or otherwise architecturally different from our other bedrooms, was HOT, like, open the door and heat pours out, vs the other rooms which were just temperate. It never dawned on me until a couple days ago that maybe the radiator was causing it. I go in my room, feel, hot, go in other room, feel, hot, go in sons room, almost burn my hand immediately.

So, is THAT radiator working well and the others are under performing, or is there something causing that radiator to heat up significantly more? Truth be told, I would love the radiators downstairs to heat up that hot as the boiler would certainly run less. For what its worth, the radiator in question maybe the furthest from the boiler, the system is running well otherwise. little to know water loss (maybe a 1/4in in 2 weeks) and the pressuretrol cuts at 2.5 (still need to get that down, will work on it next warmish day)

Any help or insight is appreciated.

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Comments

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 7,247
    Put a smaller capacity vent on that hot radiator and see if anything changes.

    Why do you need to wait for a warmish day to lower your pressuretrol??

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
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  • KC_Jones
    KC_Jones Member Posts: 5,878
    You size vents based on relative distance from the main, radiator size, but also radiator size relative to the heatloss of the room. Don't assume the rad was sized correctly when built, or that things haven't changed since the original design.

    The answer here is put a slower vent on the radiator to cool that one down.

    As far as your other comment about wishing the downstairs would heat more, are you saying upstairs is warmer than down? If so, that can be resolved as well by changing the venting.

    What is the main venting in the basement like? Have you made sure that is up to par first?
    2014 Weil Mclain EG-40
    EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Boiler Control
    Boiler pictures updated 2/21/15
  • MrSteamMan
    MrSteamMan Member Posts: 2
    @ethicalpaul - We had a new boiler installed 2 years ago. Company did fine. However, as referenced in my 1st post, I noticed the boiler was running long. When I observed, it was cutting out at 5 PSI, which as I later discovered is far too high. The pressuretrol box was set to 1 psi. After research and comments here, I learned 1) my pressuretrol was not calibrated properly, and 2) there is a TINY hex screw in the membrane of the pressuretrol that can adjust it down. I had a **** of a time turning it but suffice it to say, I got it down the 2.5 PSI, but I know it should be more like .5-1 PSI, so instead of turning the system off for an hour while its 10 degrees, Wait for a sunny 40 degree day and go fix it.

    @KC_Jones I picked up an adjustable EZ-Vent for the boys room, but it hasn't changed much, I am going to purchase a preset slower vent and see if that helps.

    2 questions:

    1) If I got faster vents for the downstairs radiators, would they get super hot? Is it worth doing a little experimenting by say swapping the old upstairs vent and the current downstairs vent?

    2) Would you please, if you have a moment, explain what the MAIN VENTS are for? The big brass guys in the basement. I know they are there, and have a function, but what exactly do they do?

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,584
    On 1 -- you might get more heat downstairs with such a swap, but it always seems to work better to slow down the too fast radiators first, and then see about the slow ones.

    On 2 -- the main vents, on a one pipe system, help to get air out of the main pipes without having to depend on the radiator vents. This helps to make sure that all the radiators get steam at more or less the same time -- there will always be some lag to the last ones -- and also makes it so that you can size the radiator vent to the heat you want in that space, rather than having to accommodate getting air out of the pipes at the same time.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England

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