air vents in residential 2 Pipe steam system (base board)

John Lasky

good afternoon,

thank you for this site its been a great help for various problems Ive had to deal with in my home and others.

I have a steam heat system in a 2 floor house in upstate NY , the house is 75 year old.

The first floor has cast iron base-boards (burnham base Ray) and is a 2 pipe system ,the second floor is one pipe radiators .

My question concerns the first floor.

Again the first floor is a 2 pipe base board system that does not have "traps".

The return piping does drop to floor level in the basement and enters the boiler at floor level. (the boiler is a 4year old HB Smith ) , should there be air vents on the base boards??

There were vents on every baseboard unit when I bought the house and I have since installed new vents in all 5 rooms. they get very hot (lots of hammer).

the longest baseboard is 16' the shortest is 3 foot. Im not sure if the system is running right or getting too hot.

many thanks "John"