What brand of radiator air vent do you suggest/avoid ?

CoachBoilermaker · October 15

Here are two that I've heard mentioned:

925005-00 Angle VARI-Valve (Heat Timer)

Vent-Rite #1 VR1 VR-1 Adjustable Steam Radiator Vent 1/8″ Male 3 PSI

ethicalpaul · October 15

I hate Vari-Valve

I've never used Vent-Rite but some people seem to like them OK.

I use Maid O Mist and sometimes Gorton

Some people like Hoffman

Just never buy any vent at a big box store. Buy them at supplyhouse.com is my recommendation

STEAM DOCTOR · October 15

Wouldn't use VV if I got it for free.

clammy · October 15

On the cheap maid of mist ,bear in mind the quality has gone down from what i ve seen do not get from big box . Personally i use gortons yeah u may end up w a bad one but over all the better vent and if going adjustable possible hoffmann 1A

peace and good luck clammy

delcrossv · October 15

I've had better luck with Maid-o-mist than Gorton. YMMV

RTW · October 15

I concur with comments to avoid Big Box Stores that won't miss your business. Do, buy from your local Plumbing Supply store if available in town and keep these knowledgeable small businesses in business that provide quality advice and products

Regards,

RTW

dabrakeman · October 15

Keep your pressure low enough and you won't have much issue with any of them.

I use MoM, Hoffman 1a and Ventrite 1and I even have a box store vent on one radiator. My system operates now such that radiator with the box store vent never 100% fills so pretty easy duty for any vent.

Mad Dog_2 · October 15

I will keep it positive. Gorton & Hoffmans ONLY. Mad Dog

The Steam Whisperer · October 15

For fully adjustable vents we use Ventrite #1 almost exclusively. On a budget, we use Maid o Mist #4. #5, and In rare instance #6 (huge church size radiators and really screwed up condo systems) with removable orifices. We will use Gorton, #4, #5, #6 for people that are looking for higher quality fixed venting rates ( like in rentals) People tend to remove the orifice on the Maid o mists. Maid o Mist also makes fixed orifice type vents too.

We like the ventrite because even when set for the highest setting, they are still a much slower vent than others…so a system is not thrown out of balance by excessive radiator venting. The Hofmann adjustable are not very repeatable….2 different vents set for the same number will vent at very different rates. …so we stopped using those many years ago. Anything that can vent real fast like the Maid o mist or Gorton C or Ds, and the Heat Timer varivalves (equal to 16 conventional vents) will tend to cause the system to go out of balance and/ or the radiator to spit.

We also recommend people stay away from Big box store vents….we have seen several case (and others here have reported) seeing them split open. We had one condo building run into several thousand dollars of emergency repair calls for the boiler and then a unit owner came home from a vacation to find about 1/3 of thier unit totally destroyed by steam and water damage due to the vent splitting open.