Steam radiator vents

Unknown

I change the boiler and wet returns, skim the water clean, make sure the main vent(s) are working and not leaking, and ONLY then do I check radiator vents.

I'm afraid that stuff will get blown into them when I first start a new boiler. I'd rather it happen to the old vents.

I've always priced the vents themselves seperately, but included checking and balancing them in the cost of the job.

Noel

Jim S

steam radiator vents

Just wondering whether you guys replace these on every boiler change out as part of the job or do you leave as is if they seem to be working.

Thanks for the feedback Jim S.

Steamhead

It Depends

on what I find. If the vents are relatively new, are properly sized for the radiators they serve, aren't stuck shut or open and don't leak when the system is full of steam, I give the owner the option. Any vent that doesn't meet the above criteria gets replaced.

The same applies to main vents.

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kev

vent choices

When putting new vents throughout house which vents should I buy? Hoffman # 40 for all rads that heat quickly and Hoffman 1A on the few hard to heat rads. Or 1A every rad and adjust accordingly? The house I am looking at has new vents which I have never seen before. They are about the size of maybe 5 or 6 stacked nickels, side mount and they have a lever on side that say's open and closed. This lever does nothing as far as I can tell. The rads at the begining of the mains heat like hell but are spitting. I have already split apart the dry returns in the crawl space of this house because they were tied together above the water line and installed two new main vents. and two of the rads at the end of the longer main are slow to heat. I think they need to install new vents on all of the rads, but since I split the returns the trouble rads are only heating slightly better and the customer may be losing faith in my ability to solve their problems. They are new home owners. The pressuretrol is cranked down. Thanks for the reply.

Steamhead

Those are Heat-Timer Vari-Valves

which can spit if not installed correctly. The lever on the side operates a shutter which is supposed to regulate the air venting rate.

As with any vent, these Vari-Valves should be used with properly-sized main vents and at low pressure. First thing to do is crank the Pressuretrol all the way down if you haven't already.

Next consideration- how long are your steam mains (not including the dry returns) and what pipe size are they? And what vents did you use on these mains?

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kev

Two mains

One travels about 17' or so out into the crawl space and then retuns in 1" below the main, at the end of this main where it drops down to become wet there is a new #75. The other main crosses the base 10' and then heads out to the crawl for about 17' where it then drops and reduces to 1" and travels back towards the other return. This is where I split them and continued the 1" out of the crawl ended with a #75 and dropped below the water and reconnected. At the end of this main are the two troubled rads. One on first one on second. The take-offs are piped correct but just like the rest of house are not dripped. I checked for the correct size and they are right.Pressure-trol is is cranked down and I believe is working right.Boiler comes up to steam quickly and shuts off. It seems to me these vents are never really shutting off completely. The new return gets hot but not as fast as the shorter one. 90% of the pipes are insulated. Its a crawl that starts out at 2' and only gets smaller althuogh the pipes are reachable.

Steamhead

Solution

Add a second #75 vent to the longer main. This will let each main fill with steam in the same amount of time. Then all radiators will have steam available to them at the same time.

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