STEAM PIPING?????

Steamhead

If all the returns from all the radiators connect together below the waterline, it was two-pipe air-vent. In this case, there would have been a valve on the inlet and outlet to each radiator, and an air vent on each.

If the inlet was at the top of the original radiators and the outlet was at the bottom, and there was no air vent, it's some sort of Vapor system. In this variation, the individual radiator returns connected to a "dry" return, above the boiler waterline. If it looks like standard union elbows were used on the radiator returns, it either had orifices at the inlet valves, or water-seals or check-valves in the return elbows or bushings.

Try to get back there and take some pics of some original radiators, also of the piping in the basement and any strange-looking devices piped near the boiler. Post the pics here and we'll see what we can do.

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Louie O.

STEAM SYSTEM PIPING

Gentlemen,
I recently went to an old 4 stoy brownstone in NYC to work on a heating problem. The system is steam with a supply line to inlet of all the cast iron radiators in building, and they also have a leaving line. Some of these radiators have leaving steam traps(which were added as radiators were replaced) and some of the old ones don't have traps??? It appears that ALL the original radiators had no leaving traps but have a leaving return line.

The return lines ALL go down to the basement floor and all connect to a commom drip leg around the basement floor to the boiler bottom inlet.The boiler was replace about 7 years ago and it does have a hartford loop. Some of these radiators are above each other since all four floors are identical in layout. So all of the risers and returns run up and down in the same areas the radiators are situated in the wall enclosures.
Some of these radiators have auto-vents and some do not.Some of the radiators heat some don't??
My questions are these:
1)Is this considered a two pipe system?
2)The radiators with out traps do get hot,and so do
the ones with traps, why????
3)Was it common not to have traps years ago?
4)What type of system had no traps on the outlets?
5)How is the steam moving through the ones with no traps, wouldnt the pressure on each side keep steam from flowing?