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Slant-Fin steam baseboard

TJ_2
TJ_2 Member Posts: 26
in THE MAIN WALL
Can steam baseboard be installed using a one-pipe hookup or is a separate return required? My neighbor has gone through three contractors trying to get his steam system working correctly. I want to debug the system for him and then steer him to a contractor who knows steam.

Full story on this system and pictures in the near future. Many problems including incorrect near boiler piping and probable excess boiler capacity.

Comments

  • ta finnegan
    ta finnegan Member Posts: 121
    Answers

    I suppose the answer is yes, if you get everything else done right. In one pipe that means venting. The cast iron baseboard like baseray is what I have had the most success with on one-pipe steam.

    Get the near boiler stuff right too!

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  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,384
    TJ, is that cast-iron

    or fin-tube baseboard? If fin-tube, what size is the pipe running thru the elements? These will affect the answers I give you.

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  • TJ_2
    TJ_2 Member Posts: 26
    The baseboard is

    1 1/4 IPS fin-tube.
  • George Berkeley
    George Berkeley Member Posts: 40
    Photos of Slant-Fin units

    Here are two photos of the Slant-Fin baseboard unit with the problems.

    We noted that the tube and fins look to be mounted level if not slightly down on the vent end.

    In the 2nd photo, we noted that the Vair-vent was blowen apart.

    TJ, any more comments or questions?
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    We had the exact same problem yesterday

    on a new boiler install - same baseboard , about 8 feet long , one pipe in 3/4 copper , and one vari-vent at the opposite end . The baseboard flooded the room underneath it a few days before the old boiler started leaking . We changed the vent na repitched the pipe up towards the vent , and water still pissed out . We closed the valve and recommended a regular cast iron rad , or in extreme - running a 2nd pipe into the return of the boiler .
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,384
    Ron's right

    there just isn't enough room in that baseboard for steam and water to keep out of each other's way when connected one-pipe. But it works great as two-pipe! Here's a shot of some we installed on a two-pipe Orifice Vapor system.

    On that system even cast-iron baseboard might not work right. But current model small-tube radiators, in all their compactness, might be the answer.

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  • jack_4
    jack_4 Member Posts: 43
    What do you mean, blowen apart?

    > Here are two photos of the Slant-Fin baseboard

    > unit with the problems.

    >

    > We noted that the tube

    > and fins look to be mounted level if not slightly

    > down on the vent end.

    >

    > In the 2nd photo, we

    > noted that the Vair-vent was blowen apart.

    >

    > TJ,

    > any more comments or questions?



  • jack_4
    jack_4 Member Posts: 43
    What do you mean, blowen apart?

    How can you blow apart a Vari-vent?

    Those units are welded together.
  • Steve Levine
    Steve Levine Member Posts: 106
    Slant/Fin steam

    Using Multipak 80 and the H-6 (1 1/4" steel pipe) element for steam works well if properly utilized. With a one pipe system, use no more than 8 feet of element for each riser. The element must be pitched must be pitched 1". The most important fact is that the rest of the system must be installed and working properly.

    Two pipe systems are surely easier and can have musch longer runs.

    Steve
  • TJ_2
    TJ_2 Member Posts: 26
    Blown apart vari-vent

    Dunno how, but the top of the vent was missing. Unfortunately, George's picture of the vent doesn't clearly show this.
  • jack_4
    jack_4 Member Posts: 43
    Pitch

    I assume by the 1" on 8' pitch you mean 'up' on the vent end and 'down' on the valve end. Correct?

    What about the vent? Do you recommend a specific size or for a variable, is a smaller vent rate better to reduce velocity?
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,384
    Betcha

    water hammer did that. It's pretty powerful!

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  • jack_4
    jack_4 Member Posts: 43
    Missing Tech

    Nice picture. I see the boot and the smokey white residue on the wall.

    What happened to your tech?
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,384
    Had to

    get him out of the way of the shot! Don't know whose boot that was- could have been HO's, he was doing his own drywall.

    That system had a lot wrong with it when we first got there, but we got him straighened out. That's what made him decide to heat the addition with Orifice Vapor.

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