Steam heat making me dizzy?

craigf

Wow guys, thanks for all the input and info. Didn't realize that CO could get into the pipes. We'll be contacting the City Inspection Department soon!

craigf

Steam heat making me dizzy?

I live in a six story apartment building with aproximatly 36 units and appears to be a one pipe system. There is an odor coming from the steam vent on the radiator in my apartment and seems to be making me dizzy and tired. I've turned the valve off and aired the place out and seem to be feeling better. Is this possible? Am I going crazy? I understand that chemicals are put in to prevent scaling, but I thought they were non toxic. Is it possible that thery used chemicals (are these the same or different from a steam sysetem?) from a closed hydronic system?

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

1/24/04

Around 5:00 PM I started to try to contact the SFFD and could only get "all circuits are busy" recording after listening to thier automated system. At about 7:30 PM, after several trys to get through, a friend and I decided to walk over to the nearest fire station to share our dilemma with them. Just think if we'd have had a blazing fire! Anyway, they told us to call PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) to come over and measure the CO levels.

Well, the PG&E guy came at about 2:00 AM after I called them at 8:00 PM. He looked at my friend and I like we were nuts when we said we thought CO was coming through the radiator vent. We showed him what you guys said and he shrugged it off. I guess he doesn't understand that you guys are the experts.

Unfortunately, when he got here the boiler had shut down and the superintendant was sleeping. The PG&E guy took some CO readings which were worthless at this time as the boiler was shut down, the place was aired out, and, at 2:00 AM, I was resigned to going to sleep. He said that we should follow up tomorrow ( I think that means calling them and waiting another 6 hours) when every thing is running. Never thought I'd need a CO detector with steam heat but I'm going out first thing in the AM and buying a good one. We'll see what happens from there.

craigf

Steam heat making me dizzy?

btw, i think many others dont use the heat in the building cuz it stinks and can get away without heat because we are in San Francisco and it doesn't get that cold here.

DanHolohan

Anything

that's put into a one-pipe steam system is going to be noticed by the folks in the apartments. Ask the super what was added.

Steamhead

Carbon Monoxide?

If the boiler has a crack from the water side to the flueways, it can suck flue gas into it when the boiler shuts down and vacuum forms in the system. On the next firing cycle, the flue gas will be expelled thru the vents.

I actually saw this happen on a Hoffman Differential Loop Vapor system. The CO went out the main vent on the Loop, filling the boiler room with CO.

Craig, show your building manager this thread, and have him get the boiler cleaned or replaced RIGHT AWAY! This situation could kill someone.

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M Ransley

To get to the bottom of the problem fast call your city inspection dept. This is a saftey issue, you super may do nothing as he may have caused the problem

Mark Hunt

Steamhead


if it's not a bother, could you e-mail me the details of that situation you found?

I could use the information.

Thanks!

Mark H

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craigf

if it is a CO leak, this could explain why the elevator shaft smells musty and feels damp and warm...i've often thought the elevator shaft smelled like a natural gas chimney flue, but figured if there were a problem it would have been figured out by now.

joe_31

odors from steam

too much make up water can cause corosion inside the boiler that has an odor when it fires steel or cast co has no noticable odor ran into super putting urine into condensate pump did not like his christmas bonus that smelled good idea to have water sample tested $

craigf

Dizzying steam heat debacle

1/24/04 Around 5:00 PM I started to try to contact the SFFD and could only get "all circuits are busy" recording after listening to thier automated system. At about 7:30 PM, after several trys to get through, a friend and I decided to walk over to the nearest fire station to share our dilemma with them. Just think if we'd have had a blazing fire! Anyway, they told us to call PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) to come over and measure the CO levels. Well, the PG&E guy came at about 2:00 AM after I called them at 8:00 PM. He looked at my friend and I like we were nuts when we said we thought CO was coming through the radiator vent. We showed him what you guys said and he shrugged it off. I guess he doesn't understand that you guys are the experts.

Unfortunately, when he got here the boiler had shut down and the superintendant was sleeping. The PG&E guy took some CO readings which were worthless at this time as the boiler was shut down, the place was aired out, and, at 2:00 AM, I was resigned to going to sleep. He said that we should follow up tomorrow (I think that means calling them and waiting another 6 hours) when every thing is running. Never thought I'd need a CO detector with steam heat but I'm going out first thing in the AM and buying a good one. We'll see what happens from there.

Steamhead

Done-

enjoy.

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Steamhead

That situation

could be the result of a broken pipe, or a bad vent somewhere in the shaft.

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