Cant get steam to 2 rooms ?????

John Lasky

good morning.

I have a strange problem maybe not so strange, I have a steam system that is a 2 pipe cast baseboard on the first floor and one pipe radiator on the second floor. the boiler is new and 5 years old (HB smith)

My system works fine with the exception of the water hammer I get here and there but two bedrooms upstairs do not get hot untill the boiler has been cycled for many hours.

these two upper bedrooms are at the very end of the main ,actually the main stops at the end of my cellar and then there are two branches , the right branch feeds a long 2 pipe cast baseboard in my dining room (works fine)the left branch feeds the common riser for the 2 bedrooms that will not get warm for hours.

this left branch actually runs past the riser for the 2 problem bedrooms and terminates under the kitchen where it was plugged .

my other 3 rooms upstairs are fed by a riser very close to the boiler and they get good and warm in about 20 min and all are hot in 30.

we have not been using these 2 problem bedrooms for the 5 years weve been in the house and the radiators were shut down but, in the dead of winter even though they were shut down there was noticeable heat at the valves in both rooms.

Reading this website and not seeing a Main vent at the end of the run just past the riser for the cold bedrooms I decided to add one last night (vent -rite 75) unfortunatly this didnt solve my problem but I did notice that the end of this main heats up much faster now.

OK heres what happens, after 20 mins or so every room in the house except these upper 2 bedrooms are warm .

1) I can hear air venting from both radiators though its not steady the sound comes and goes.

2) I can hear steam trying to work its way up the pipe but to no avail.

3) I took the vent out of one radiator and still no steam after a few mins.

Im perplexed and need some ideas cuz this Electrician is stummped!

1) More venting?

2) not enough preassure ? im running at 3.5 PSI (control minimum is 3 psi)

3)dirty water?

4) Plugged or clogged Riser(Ouch!!) even though I hear air venting in both rooms (comes and goes)

Any wisdom you can give me will be very very welcome .

"John"

John Shea

cut your pressure down to 1psi.

Thad English

yep

ya gotta lower the pressure and make sure that your steam mains are insulated.