Whats up with Hoffman??

Neil Andrews

I replaced all my radiator vents (9 in all) with Hoffman 1A’s and 40 less than a year ago. I went with Hoffman vents because I read about them in Dan’s book, and because their chrome finish looks nice with my newly refinished radiators.

They have worked fine up until this last month. I have had to replace 4 of them on different radiators in the past month because they will not close properly and steam would escape. My cut out pressure is set to 1 ½ , & cut-in at ½ .

I was wondering how long should these vents last? I would think they should at least a few years, they were not cheap! My Big Box cheapo specials lasted about 5 years.

Just wondering if maybe I got a bad batch. If the remaining others continue to fail, I am going to switch to Gorton’s.

Has anyone run into this problem?

Thanks

Neil A

Mark A. Custis

Give cleaning them

a try. If people knew what was in water they would not drink it much less boil it to heat their homes. An hour in vinegar should do it. Rise well and try again. Oh, about half way through the hour shake well, change setting, shake again and wait. Fuel injectors clog faster than down draft carbs.

Toilet bowl cleaner will get the crud out in a hurry, but it will eat the shinny finish you value.

Keep me posted.

Mark

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bobbyd

same problem

I ran into a similar problem, they worked fine for about a month, and then they would not vent properly, began spitting water and hissing, burned a lot of oil, not being able to stop venting. Pressuretrol cut in at 1/2 cut out at 1 and 1/2.

Switched them out to Maid O Mist and the system is working fine. Could be a bad batch out there, who knows ?

All I know is they are all sitting on my workbench.
If I get around to boiling them I will most likely I will not.

Mark A. Custis

I knew a service tech who

always said there could be other underliying causes to the problem, but never took the time to find out what they could be, if they where there.

I have used these products, with out any bad out of the box problems, for a long time (be polite don't ask how long), and will bet on the side of a dirty system is gunking up a good product. De-gunk or de-bunk me.

Mark

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[Deleted User]

Yep.

But, not w/ the 40's. The 75's have the life expectancy of a Mayfly. When we find 40's spitting, we look @ radiator grade, whether the valve is open all the way (as it should be), or what is happening in the boiler.

This has been a year of hard steaming. That means that a lot of the crud that is laying in those 70 year old pipes is coming back into the boiler. Doesn't take long for that to cause those beautiful steam bubbles to take a lot of water off w/ them. Many times, it is a matter of skimming, or draining, and flushing the boiler, and returns, to stop the spitting vents. Then we shake the water out and, to quote Jackie Gleason, "away we go."

Take a look @ what is happening in the gage glass. If it is bouncing and water is coming over the top, that might be your problem.

Happy steaming.

Andy N.

another possibility

Make sure you have good main vents. like they say, if you can hear the vents venting, you dont have enough vents. if the radiator vents are working too hard, you will pull dirt and debris through them, causing them to clog up.


just another opinion,



Andy n.

Neil Andrews

System

I would just like to mention the following about my one pipe system.

A new WM EG-45 was installed 2 years ago. The boiler water in the site glass does not appear that dirty and the water does not surge or flow over the top of the glass during boiler firing. The boiler usually gets a blow down every week and very little dirt and sediment is drained off. All radiators are pitched properly and shut-offs valves are open fully. I have 2 new Gorton #1 for main vents, and they appear to be functioning properly, no spitting or hissing after they close. The boiler very rarely takes on any makeup water on it’s own.

The system I think is working quite well, and it appears to be balanced, all the radiators seem to get hot within a few minutes of each other.

I am just a little concerned that almost half of these vents that I replaced less than a year ago have started to fail. I guess I was under the impression that these vents were suppose to last a long time, after reading some of the posts on The Wall.

I will keep an eye on the remainder of the vents, and hope for the best.

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions.

Neil A

Nathan_3

I notice the same thing

My 1A hoffman vents are also clogging. No success with cleaning either. Pretty pathetic that they only offer one year warrenty on something that could last 10 years (so they say).