Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.
If our community has helped you, please consider making a contribution to support this website. Thanks!

Steam main help

Options

Absolute rookie here

Single pipe steam

Apx 90 ft of 2' main

Main vent replaced from vent rite #35 to gorton #1

Reduced main venting from 40+ mins to 21.5 mins, read that that much line should only take roughly 3-5 mins to vent (blame AI if its wrong), looking through my system i noticed that the main vent is located after a reducer from 2' to 1'

Wondering if it would be a good idea to tap a tee nearby and add more main vents prior to the reduction?

Not working with very much space so tapping the tee seems like my only option, thinking of running a 1 inch pipe and adding a couple of gorton #2

Like I said absolute rookie!

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 15,999
    edited December 2025

    1" is more than adequate to vent the air as fast as the steam can heat the main. are you measuring from when the boiler starts steaming? it will be a lot faster when the system is still warm from a recent cycle than from cold. you can take the vent off and run the boiler until steam gets there, it isn't going to get any faster than that with a bigger vent.

    others will know relative sizes of different vents.

    Ezac97ethicalpaul
  • Ezac97
    Ezac97 Member Posts: 2

    Measuring from start to end

    Apx 75 ft of 2' from boiler to reduction and 15 ft post reduction to 1' (the only main vent is past this currently)

    What is am seeing or.. rather hearing is that the last radiator in the loops seems to be acting somewhat as a main vent and hissing / sucking constantly. I've replaced the radiator vent multiple times and the same thing keeps happening

  • gfrbrookline
    gfrbrookline Member Posts: 788

    I would build an antler in your current location with a 90, you have plenty of space to add two or three Gordon #2's or for more venting Barnes and Jones Big Mouths, that is what I use. You also want to check your radiator vents, they might be too slow as well. Gerry Gill put out a chart to match the vents to the radiator size and location that can be very helpful. You may need to play with it a bit to get even heat but it made my system heat faster and evenly thus run more efficiently. Venting the mains helps but the whole system needs to vent correctly to work properly.

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,371

    why are you blaming the radiator vent for this?

    Try a #2 as the main vent and see if things are better.

    Your times aren’t very useful unless the main was hot at the time, as already mentioned

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • dabrakeman
    dabrakeman Member Posts: 901
    edited December 2025

    1 Gorton #2 should be sufficient or add two more #1's on an antler.

  • Mazzymae
    Mazzymae Member Posts: 1

    I have obsolete heating vents along the walls in my very old apartment building my bedroom sits right above the boiler room in the building which serves as perfect breeding grounds for fungus gnats. I have been seeing an abundance of gnats in my bedroom on a table that used to sit right next to the obsolete heating vent. I am moving my furniture around in my bedroom and I was vacuuming by the heating then in the end of it came up and I seen a half a dollar size whole at the end of this obsolete heating vent which I'm believing is an entrance for gnats into my house through that hole from the basement where it's damp and dark is it safe for me to seal that hole at the end of this obsolete heating vent to keep the bugs from coming through if that's the case or is this particular hole there for some sort of ventilation for the boiler room in the heating system is it safe for me to seal that hole up

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,371

    No one here can answer that question, especially not when it is tacked onto someone else's question @Mazzymae . You should edit your question to be empty (and then I'll do the same) and ask on a new discussion of your own creation.

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el