Steam Heat Problems

Earl Shepherd

I have The Lost Art of Steam Heating. Do you think I need any of your other books to solve the problem with my heating system? I won’t be the first to tell you that you do great work. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. Let me get to the point.

My former wife Nomathemba Shepherd wrote you in 1997 and you responded to her on December 23, 1997. I happen to be away at the time, so we only communicated by telephone. Sadly, she was unable to solve the problem she was working on.

I live in a 1920 Colonial house with a two-pipe Vapor system. The heating system occupies two floors of a three floor single family home. I have a Weil McLan furnace with a Beckett Burner. A red tag on the front says maximum W P 15 P.S.I. and water 30 P.S.I. A Marsh Return Trap sits about 5’9” off the ground near the back of the furnace. There is a water gage on the front of trap that measures water levels, but no water has appeared in the gage for years. The vent which stands higher than the water trap looks like rusted water dripped all over the vent and pipes.

The system at one time had 13 radiators, but my former spouse removed the sixteen-shoulder radiator from the kitchen during remodeling. Seven of the radiators are on the first floor. Does removing one of the radiators from the system affect the system?

The front of the house faces east and we seem to have a problem with the radiators on the West end of the building. The bedroom on the Northwest corner of the building seldom has heat. The other two rooms, (bathroom and bedroom) have heat only when the heat is initially turned on or turned up at higher temperatures. Then the radiators stop heating after the first floor reach temperature. The second floor is cooler than the first floor.

When my former wife was trouble shooting the system, she had all of the traps replaced. When I checked earlier, all of the traps were in good working order. Hmmm. She also had two traps replaced just before you enter the room with the furnace.

Using your expert tutelage, I check the radiator angle from the trap in the Northwest bedroom (use as an office). Could this be the reason for this radiator not heating?

Well, I hope this is enough information for you to determine if I can repair whatever problems exist within my system.

Thank you very much.
Earl Shepherd
101 Ridgefield Street
Hartford, Connecticut, tchaka@worldnet.att.net

DanHolohan

Removing

the one radiator shouldn't have made that much of a difference. It sounds like the air's not getting out of the system. Is there a large main vent near that Marsh trap?

Got photos?

Glen Pearson

Steam heating problems in Pasadena, CA

What a great site Dan! I've spent hours going through it.
I live in a 107 yr old 7 story resort hotel (now condos) in Pasadena, CA. It was the first all steel and concrete building in Los Angeles and was pretty cutting edge at the time.

We have a one pipe steam system. Steam is not getting to all parts of the building. I have done some of the obvious things like changing the radiator vents etc. Our boiler service company is convinced we have a massive leak since we aren't building any pressure at the boiler. It just runs and runs. I am not convinced of this. Cut in pressure is I believe at one or two lbs, and the cutout at 5.

At some point, and nobody seems to know when, the asbestos pipe insulation was removed and no new insulation was installed. The part of the building that is experiencing most of the problems is the furthest from the boiler and has 11 out of 16 possible radiators removed. There are a couple of branch lines that come off a 4" main. There are two stacks of six and the others are located throughout the first floor. Even with the valve on the top floor wide open and no radiators connected to it, no steam comes. Only one of the radiators on the first floor is receiving steam. I suspect that is because it is so close to the main and is the closest one to the boiler.

My conclusions at this point are:
1. the lack of insulation over the 200 foot run to where the two non-functioning stacks begin is causing the steam to condense before it can rise.
2. Possible wet steam is not travelling as far as it should.
3. Not having the bulk of the radiators connected is disallowing a critical mass of steam to rise through the stacks. The other side of the building that is closer to the boiler has all radiators installed.

Your help is tremendously appreciated!

Thank you

Glen Pearson
626 695 0493

John Shea

INSULATE!!

If you can't build pressure and insulation has been removed at some point, I would say you need to re-insulate those pipes thoroughly. The boiler can't keep up with the condensate and could be easily considered undersized due to the lack of insulation on pipes.

DanHolohan

I agree

and I'm glad you're enjoying the site. Tell all your friends.

John Shea

I am certainly telling all mine!

> and I'm glad you're enjoying the site. Tell all

> your friends.

John Shea

I am certainly telling all mine!

Hey Dan,

Is your Affiliate Program still in operation?

I filled out the form sometime ago, but never got a response (unless it accidentally got deleted with the usual SPAM).

The site was grossepointe.com. It's possible too, that someone thought the site wasn't relative, but there are still a lot of steam/hot water homes in Grosse Pointe, MI.

I would do anything to help preserve some of the older systems & homes in our community. You would not believe (maybe you would) the increase of the number of 'butcher' jobs I've seen to our homes & buildings here in metro detroit.

I hear of people having contractors replace their steam system with scorched air (OUCH!). One local woman had a contractor cut the plaster coves out of her living room ceiling only to be replaced with a cheap crown molding.

It's enough to make me sick!

Thanks Dan.

DanHolohan

It would be

under your last name, John. What's that? I'll check.

John Shea

Shea

...is my last name.

DanHolohan

Yep,

you're registered, John. You can go to the site and get your banner by using the password that you created. Post it on your site and you'll get 10% of all the click-through sales that we get from you. Thanks.

John Shea

Thanks Dan.

Earl Shepherd

Steam Heat Problems

I hope these photos help you analyze my system. Maybe I can get the radiators that are not working to work, and generally tune the system.

Thanks

Boiler Guy

Dan

Why are some of these posts so wide. Is there a simple way to make them fit the screen?
Thanks

DanHolohan

It happens

when people post without checking the size of their photos. I put the photos in the background when I spot them.