no heat some radiators

bob celli

I've recently purchased a home with 2 pipe steam heat. Some radiators were not heating so I had all 21 steam traps in the house replaced as all my research and two plumbers suggested. There is still the same problem. The returns seem clear, since many of the radiators that are working drain into the same returns. Even though the boiler shows it has pressure is it possible that pressure is not getting out fully from the furnace. Most of the cold radiators are on the same line right before the end of the line.

Also, If you remove the pipe right after the radiator that goes into the steam trap you would think that the steam would rush through and come out and that is not happening on any of them. It doesn't seem that there is any steam pressure even though the boiler seems to be under pressure. I have had quite a few heating and plumbing proffessionals look at it and they can't seem to figure it out. Could the header be cloged with gunk and not letting the steam out?

Sometimes after the radiators that get hot are really hot and I assume the traps close to keep the steam in, the cold radiators start to fill with steam I can hear it and feel the beginning of the radiator get hot but as soon as the the condensate of the other radiators stars to drip, which I am also assuming, the cold radiators stop heating and goes warm. Every now and then all the radiators get hot and when that happens you can tell the difference because you can hear it. Its like there is more pressure in the pipes.

Any ideas on this? Any help would be appriciated. Thanks

Fred Harwood

no heat

Two-pipe steam mains also have traps. If you have several steam mains, check the vent traps at the ends of each main. When a main trap fails, it won'l let steam into that main, or as quickly as in other mains. Sometimes the main will waterlog and rads on that main won't heat at all.
Let us know what you find.

bob celli

Even Traps on Mains Changed

Even the traps on the mains were changed. The mains get hot all the way around the basement. Burning hot. the pipes get hot right up to the beginning of the radiators that don't heat.

Dale

Cross over traps

You may have traps that aren't at the end of the main and aren't F&T traps. These traps are often up near the basement ceiling and look like radiator traps, they allow air to go to the returns to be vented. Your comment about no steam even at the outlet of a rad without a trap would have me seeing if steam was at the inlet of the rad and then following piping back to the boiler. Please let us know what you find.

bob celli

Rads are burning hot at inlet could too much pressure be problem

Rads are burning hot at inlets. Follow all mains around basement and follow pipes up to rads all are burning hot but steam does not enter 8 rads only heat sometimes and that is rare. So far had 5 different plumbers in and no one has an answer. Some how in Connecticut no one seems to know steam heat.

bob celli

Plumber even opened main before main trap

When the plumber opened the main before the main steam trap there was steam there but it wasn't rushing kind of ozing out. It seemed odd, I grew up with steam and it seemed to have more push than that. This seemed breathy and weak with no water even forming when exposed to the air??

gerry gill

couple of suggestions-

first make sure the boiler doesn't have a hole in it..flood it and check for water on the floor..second, measure the radiation and make sure the boiler is big enough,,then open the connection between the radiator valve and a non heating radiator and make sure the valve is open and not broke closed..try throttling down the radiators closer to the boiler and see if the end radiators then start to heat up..could just be a balancing issue..hope this helps..

bob celli

bob celli

Advice from Pluming & Heating Contractor, is he correct?

Its been recomended that the pressure trol be replaced with a vaporstat and never allowed to get above 1 PSI, and that the main air vent be replaced with a vacum vent. Contractor also thinks header is piped incorrectly and is going to get specs from Weil-McLain. Looks like it was originally Trane 2 pipe steam and then Sarco F&T vacum put on later. Do you think this is the right procedure to fix the no heat problem in some rads. He said pressure is to high and when fixed, at the times the furnace shuts when it reaches pressure then the vacum will kick in and help the steam get pulled through the rads.
Does this sound right to you?

bob celli

Problem fixed, Thanks everyone

I had the plumber at the house last night and he replaced the pressure troll with a vapor stat, and we decided not to replace the main air vent with a vacuum vent at the advice of many.

Once the furnace was put into operation it was easy to see that after about 30 to 40 minutes we weren’t getting above 4 ounces of pressure. We got a furnace tech in and he checked for a possible leak in the furnace and found nothing. Since there was no plate on the Weil Mcklian he measured to see what size nozel it should take (it had a 1 gallon in it & its 7 rungs) and he said it could go as high as a 2 gallon. He put in a gallon and a half and also noticed the fan and motor had a balance problem as well as a baring that was going so he replaced the whole fan and motor. He fired it up and adjusted the breath and in about 13 minutes we had steam everywhere in the house.

They have the vapor stat set at 16 ounces with the differential set at 4. Do you think that’s good? The furnace cycles off when it hits 16 ounces and shortly after starts again.

The problem was not enough pressure and an under-fired furnace as well as some bad traps. It took a whole month to resolve this issue. That pressure troll was reading 2 pounds and all along the pigtail was clogged and not working and that’s why everyone kept saying you have too much pressure.

We’ll it looks like all is well now. I was never so happy to have heat before. Thank you so much for all of your help.

Unknown

The pressure is set right

That will work. You could actually drop the cut out a little bit, and the indication that you dropped it too much would be those cold radiators again.

A setting that is just above that point is correct. Once you find what pressure it takes to get that last radiator hot, add an ounce or two to that number, and have that be your cut-in number, and your cut-out number will be the 4 ounces above that, set by your differential.

Double check the actual pressures afterwards, by running and watching the boiler.

Noel

Michele

Have the Same Problem in Grosse Pointe, MI

I printed out this strand to review with a contractor I have coming over tomorrow to try to resolve the same problem in my 4800sqft house. I had a new boiler installed at the end of last heating season (it had a major crack in it and was spewing steam up my chimney so it looked like I was running an underground factory). Unfortunately, the new boiler did not help my no heat problem! I also have steam coming from the pipe vent of my condensate pump.....not a good sign (or so I read in Dan's new book, "We Got Steam Heat" - the "Lost Art.." was a little above my head). The contractor that installed the boiler said, "All we need to do is increase the pressure and change some traps." But after reading the chapter entitled, "Pressure Kills" I think I will seek the advice of somebody new. Too much money chasing this problem so far. I need heat soon!

Thanks for all the info! This strand gives me a great start!