Steam trouble

Supervisor Mike

I rent a home with an old steam system. It is a two pipe nat.gas fired. There appear to be no traps unless they are on the supply side and no air vents. The lower floor radiators seem to do fairly well but the furthurest unit from the boiler is always cold. The boiler has a temp gauge that doesn't work and no sight glass for water fill.There is a gauge on the main above the boiler that read feet of water. This has been running at 20. The house stays pretty warm but in my opinion is not working properly. The heating cost also seems to be high. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Paul Mitchell_2

???

You have a gravity hot water system. At least it sounds that way to me. Do you have small key vents on the radiators? Maybe there is air in some of the rads.

Supervisor Mike

Yes there is key vents in the top of the rads.There is a tank upstairs with a sight glass on that.should the water level be up there?

Steamhead

> Yes there is key vents in the top of the

> rads.There is a tank upstairs with a sight glass

> on that.should the water level be up there?





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Steamhead

Yes

the tank should be about 1/4 full when the system is cold. If there is no water in the tank, fill the boiler until there is. Then bleed the air from the radiators, re-filling the boiler to put water in the tank as needed, and you should be OK.

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Supervisor Mike

Thanks guys for your help.Didn't even cross my mind that this could be a hot water system.