vents on a 2 pipe base board steam system

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"

Steamhead

This is set up as 2-pipe air-vent

The return line from each Baseray must drop to basement floor level, or at least below the boiler's waterline, before connecting with any other return line. Otherwise steam will enter the returns and cause banging.

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