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Th Wall

Bob Gillespie
Bob Gillespie Member Posts: 2
in THE MAIN WALL
We live in France in a ground floor appartment heated using steam. It is a two pipe system with dry return (no steam traps) into a u-tube system situated under our bedroom.
It's knocking all the time in the night in our bedroom during operation, and I wanted to ask your advice on a few points:

1 The thermal insulation around the u-tubes has come away and the air vent valve is in the downstream end after the water trap: doesn't this seem wrong to you? As long as there is water, the downstream end is too cool to vent, but as long as there is thermal insulation, the water wont condensate and the vent would work fine (but there would be steam return to the boiler-actually it's town steam)
2 The radiator has both in let and outlet tubes mounted horizontally: wouldn't this be a water trap, and partly responsible for the banging.

Comments

  • Mad Dog
    Mad Dog Member Posts: 2,595
    Could be trapped or pooling where is shouldn't

    You say "u Tube" do you mean a loop seal? It is hard to tell without a drawing or pics , but the air needs a way to exit the system and perhaps the vent if there even is one is not located in the right place. You say you have "town" steam - we call that district steam. Here in NYC each building with district steam, usually has a PRV or pressure reducing valve as the steam enters the building. If you have this type of set up, the pressure could be running a little high. in any case, you need a professional in there. DO NOT attempt any repairs on this system...it coul;d kill you, your family , and your whole building. I would call the local gov't office there and tell them , hopefully they will send someone to help you. I'm glad to hear, they still have working steam systems over there. Mad Dog
  • Bob Gillespie
    Bob Gillespie Member Posts: 2


    Dear Mad Dog,
    To reformulate:

    Yes: District steam, if you wish.
    Noise: I have shimmed the noisy radiator: this has made a difference, so I will have it mounted to get the 45° angle down.

    The u-tube is a condenser, or steam trap: it's a form mentioned in a Dan Holohan article in pmengineer, "Like putting Rollerblades on an Elephant." Our two-pipe system has no steam traps on the "dry" radiator outlets. The system has worked since 1910, and the city is not getting involved beyond the supply of steam to the building.

    So my question stands: shouldn't the relief valve be on the steam side of the condenser, rather than on the LP water side?

    Kind regards,

    RBGo'B
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