leaking radiators

bob young

unless you are getting paid as a maintenence plumber call the landlord. if you try to so much as replace a n air valve or restore pitch on a radiator and something snaps , then what do you do ???he could hold you responsible and you would be forced to pay the plumber and meanwhile you would have no HEAT.

sd

steam radiator mess

check the heating system in our rented home today. This is our first winter here, oil furnace, steam radiators. On the side of each radiator is a round thing with the words Gorton Vapor Equalizer Valve printed on it. Shortly after turning on the heat, alot of water began running from the Equalizer Valve on 2 of the radiators. 4 other radiators dripped slightly. After about 15 minutes, the leaking stopped. I turned off the heat, and within 2 minutes the same 2 radiators again began leaking a large amount of water, and stopped in about 5 minutes. Any helpful hints to help us decide if we can fix this ourselves, or have to call our not-so-nice landlord???

scott75

You don't have the valve for the make water open do you. The first thing I learned about steam is that that valve stays closed. Make sure the boiler is just filled to the propper water level on the guage glass. Anything other than that, call the landlord. You just have to be meaner then he is (for me, that is fun). Good luck.

sd

What's a valve for make water? !!!
I am wondering if I did not perhaps overfill the boiler....we were told to make sure that glass thingy didn't get too low, and I have added water because it looked empty to me, but now I cant tell if it is empty or just full. It's all rusty/cruddy looking.
Well, I'll call the landlord if I have to, but I have to fork out $$$ for repairs under $150. Thanks for your input.

scott75

If you are the least bit mechanicly/plumbing inclined I may be able to talk you through some easy things. Let me know. If you over fill the boiler you will have unwanted water in the pipes/rads. You can turn the power to the boiler off, drain it till it's empty. There should be a drain near the bottom of the boiler. Open the relief valve to let air in the boiler. Other wise you may not get all the water out. Don't forget to close this relief valve after you're finished. Take the guage glass off and clean it, then put it back. The valves directly above and below the guage should always remain open. Otherwise you will not have a true measure of the water level. Now make sure the relief valve is closed, close the boiler drain you used to drain the water. Now find the fill valve. Fill the boiler to the propper water level on the guage glass. The water level line is usually marked behind the guage glass on the boiler jacket. If you can not find it, the line is usually about 1/2-2/3 way up the guage glass. Do not fill the boiler if the boiler is hot. If you are not comfortable doing this then call Landlord.

sd

PROBLEM SOLVED

Okay, its fixed. The boiler was overfilled. Wayyyyyy overfilled. Thanks for everyone's help.

Matt Undy

Check the local housing code. If you complain and they don't fix it you may be able to have ti fixed and deduct it from the rent or escro rent until it is repaired.

It sounds like you flooded the system. If you did you could have also affected the pipe pitch, it may hammer and require re-pitching or re-placing some of the pipe to make it work right. If it bangs and it isn't fixed this is likely to damage air vents (the device that was spiting water) and possibly crack fitings, losen joints, or crack or open up radiators.

Matt

scott75

Matt, how can you affect the pipe pitch by flooding the system? Not doubting you, just curious. Bye the way, I don't like to give step-by-step instructions to HO's but for this situation it didn't seem difficult. But I know how to do it. Does anyone think I went overboard and shouldn't have gotten into it? I thought twice about it after.

sd

Thanks Scott...I may as well have been reading Chinese as follow your directions, being that I am not mechanically inclined. HOWEVER, I do have friends who are smart like you, and the problem is fixed. Water level is back in sight now in the glass tube thingy, and the spitting and hammering have disappeared.
I appreciate your interest and willingness to help out someone like me who was dumb enough to flood the system in the first place!

scott75

No prob, like I said, that was my first mistake when I bought my house 1 and half years ago, right before I got into the biz. I was cursing the home inspector up and down thinking the system was just falling apart. Then I realized it was my bad.

Matt Undy

The piping that should only have steam in it is supported for the weight of the steam. If the system is flooded some to all of this piping will have water in it. Large diamater pipe filled with water can weigh houdreds to thousands of extra pounds. This can cause the supports to fail or bend and change the pitch of the piping or possibly bend parts of the pipign itself.

BTW, thsi isnt' my idea i read it somewhere on this site in an article on a particular system problem following flooding the system.

Matt

sd

Ha, ha, your "bad".

sd

How bout this one

Okay Scott, it's cold here in NJ this morning. I put on the heat, it worked just fine, but one radiator seems to be getting hot much more slowly than all the others and it is only heating halfway across. This is on the first floor. The upstairs radiators are cooking away long before this one even starts to feel warm. Help??

Marlen Waaijer

replacing cracked nipple in old ci radiator

I found a step wrench to remove the nipple, but it is too big. Where can I find a tool that can do the job for me?
I have two ci radiators that are part of a one pipe steam system and I am clueless on how to remove the nipples that connect them to the steam pipe. Thanks for any help you can give me.

scott75

If the air vent on the rad is adjustable, make sure it is open all the way. If is not adjustable, or this doesn't correct the problem, replace the air vent. If this doesn't fix the problem, you need a pro.

scott75

I would have to see it and improvise, sorry I couldn't be more help. Had the same problem yesterday, couldn't get the rad tailpiece out. The one on there works but it is 1 1/4". I wanted to put 1" on but its not worth the trouble. I'll just stay with the 1 1/4". OH, try heating it up with mapp gas, acetalyne. Get It nice and hot and then put a wrench on it. Don't worry about the treads. You can always replace it. Use a pipe wrench or a big set of channel locks. If the pipe wrench grabs enough, but you don't have enough leverage, put a pipe over the handle effectively making the handle longer. Try spraying the treads first with PB Blaster. Works great. Some combination of this should get it done for you.