Warren Webster air vent

Ozmat

I have a Warren Webster type R two pipe steam system. The air vents in the basement are gurgling and the boiler water seems to be discharging out of them. We have 13 radiators and about six are now not getting hot. I have replaced the steam traps in the radiators with the Tunstal steam traps. Definitely helped. Now the air vents on the returns are being problematic. What is the best fix for these things? The system is 95 years old. The boiler was replaced in the sixties but works great at creating steam and pressure. The system runs between 1.5 and 2.5 psi.

mattmia2

keep the pressure much lower. does it have crossover traps? are they good?

the vents on the returns can be replaced with modern vents but if there is steam in the returns you need to figure out why.

Not sure about a webster system but some systems can only have vents on the returns and have to vent the mains through crossover traps in to the return, they can't have vents on the mains.

Jamie Hall

The vents are probably toast. Just replace them with Gorton #2s.

Then before anything else gets ruined, get a vapourstat to control the system pressure. Your system should run at between 4 OUNCES per square inch and 8 OUNCES. Half a pound. 1.5 to 2.5 psig is way too high and will cause the system to work poorly if at all (may be why some of your radiators aren't heating).

Ozmat

Thanks for the information

I ordered two Gorton air vents. The pressure gauge on top of the boiler has no markings for what scale it measures. The pressutrol on the side is dialed down as low as it can go for cut in and cutout pressure. The boiler seems to get the pressure up in about twenty minutes from a cold start then cycles on and off in two minute intervals to maintain pressure.