a breakthrough

Larry_6

I've had one steam radiator (kitchen) in my first-floor apartment that is furthest from the boiler that never heated up very much. When I'd check the pipe in the basement it would be hot up until a point a few feet from where its riser would penetrate the floor to feed the radiator.

Low and behold, this same pipe (the long horizontal feed) sprang a pinhole leak 2 days ago resulting in a constant drip (sometimes drizzle.) But alas, the radiator is now getting full heat.

This probably points to an obvious problem but please confirm for me. It's a 1-pipe system. Has the problem all along been not enough pitch on this pipe?

thanks

Steamhead

Probably

the pinhole is leaking air as well as water, which allows steam to reach that point faster. A larger vent on the radiator will cure the problem when the pipe is replaced.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

Larry_6

pinhole vent

the thing is that I tried to address this problem last year by placing a large vent at the end of this feed pipe. The configuration looks like this: The feed pipe is an almost- straight run from the boiler. At around 17 ft there's a T feed leading to a riser serving a small bathroom radiator that works fine. At around 26 ft I have a T leading to a riser feeding this kitchen radiator. At 28 ft I have a 6" riser with a large vent atop that readily gets steam and does a lot of spitting and gets quickly discolored.

This new pinhole is in the main feed a couple of feet in front of the riser to the kitchen. Usually, only the inlet side of the kitchen radiator gets steam (pre-pinhole.)

Sometimes I just leave the vent off the kitchen radiator altogether and this doesn't help it get more steam.

Any suggestions?