radiator venting

chuck_6

Shawn:

Listen to Bob and Pete. I'm a homeowner as well and have all Gorton vents. Put the Gorton 1's on the main vents. For the room with the thermostat put a Gorton 4 vent and for upstairs rooms and those furthest away go with a Gorton D. The 4 has the smallest opening, followed by the 5, 6, C, with the D having the biggest opening. If you vent the mains properly it reduces the stress on the radiator vent. Vents are relatively inexpensive.

You can also call Ken Kunz at Gorton at (908) 276-1323. Ken is terrific and can walk you through proper venting.

Chuck

shawn_11

Just forget the air vents???

1) I've found I can balance the heat in my home (one pipe steam) by leaving vents completely off my biggest radiators. Steam never goes much past the half way point on these big things--so i'm not loosing any out of the open hole. Is this normal or does this suggest any problems with the system overal?

2) Also, I'm replacing some old dole 1A vents (dial from 1-10). Do these compare at all to the 1A's in Gill/Pajek's chart (dials from 1-6)?

3) Finally, a baseboard radiator doesn't have enough room from the wall to screw in an angled air vent. Can i screw in a straight one, so that is is horizontal???

Any advice is very much appreciated, thank you.

Christian Egli_2

Wide open and free to roam, your steam has it nice

An open hole will provide very good venting. So far, so good. The risk of passing steam might be greater on the coldest days still to come.

I'm over thinking the problem a little, but since the one open hole is not enough to completely vent the entire large radiator, maybe two or more vents are needed. Are you satisfied with the way the room heats even though the radiator is only half used? If so, then you've already got enough capacity.

Having a radiator that opens directly into the atmosphere is not all that uncommon. Some old systems often had one radiator that did just that, this radiator was large and hung to the ceiling somewhere around the basement.

Air vents don't work horizontally, they need gravity to reopen. You could use elbows and nipples. It is possible the Gorton air vents work in horizontal positions since they operate with a bimetal strip, but you would still get float issues. I don't know if it should be done.

Pete_18

vents

Are your mains vented / vented properly? I found that before my mains were vented, the radiators were dying to let air out and I couldn't balance my 1-pipe steam system, but now that they're vented with nice big Gorton's, the radiators can just worry about venting their own air.

I recommend the Heat-Timer Varivalve Angle vents or a nice big Gorton C/D if you need it. The nice thing about the Heat-Timer is they have a high venting capacity, but they're adjustable. The Gortons are just wonderful venting devices even without being adjustable

shawn_11

Thank you both.

Christian: ironically, this large radiator is very near the thermostat, so I'm worried about cooling the house, but maybe with two holes, and vents on both holes I'd get more control--so that would work well.

Pete: I think i will add more main vents--and I see how that could change how much venting I'll actually want that radiator to do.

Again, much appreciated, thanks

Pete_18

proper main venting

From my experience will make a gigantic difference in balance and radiator venting. If you have no main vents, your radiators are dying to vent all the air from your mains.

Write the lengths of your pipes and the sizes and someone who knows more than I do can chime in on how many Gorton 1s or 2s you need.

shawn_11

Thanks for the suggestion Pete,

One pipe steam, two mains, both are 2 1/2 inch pipe, departing from a 3 foot 5 1/2 inch header. all pipes are insulated, each main is currently vented with a hoffman #75. The vents are 16 inches after the last riser, as the main becomes a dry return.

Main A is about 20 feet long, Main B is about 23.

My rough calcs based on pipe sizes and radiator EDR show main A serving 5.50 cubic feet of pipes and radiators, where main B serves only about 4.50 cubic feet.

So ironically, the shorter main (A) should move more air, so I want it's main vents slightly bigger, i think.

shawn_11

Any thoughts?

I would like to start re-venting my system this weekend, and wonder if anyone has answers to the following questions:

1) What quantity of main venting is recommended for a 20 foot 2 ½ inch main?

2)To vent a third floor riser, I’m wondering if the following would work:

Make use of a tapping on the third floor radiator’s FIRST section to install a Gorton D, which would act like a main vent for that riser. Once steam hits that first radiator section, the D would close and allow the radiator to vent slowly, as governed by the regular vent, say a Gorton 5, on the terminal, LAST section of the radiator.

If you have ideas on either of those, please pipe-up (no pun intended of course).
Thanks,
Shawn

Bob W._3

The main has about .7 cu. ft. of air so it would need at least 1 Gorton No. 1 or Hoffman No. 75. Your earlier post says you already have a 75 on each main. I would put on an additional No. 1. They are inexpensive.

Can't comment on your other suggestion. Interesting though. In TLAOSH Dan Holohan suggest installing a 2nd vent below the 1st vent. The 1st vent will close early as steam goes up and across the rad. The 2nd vent will keep it open.

I still think it would be best to vent the riser if possible and then vent the rad slower.

shawn_11

Thanks bob,

A few weeks ago you recommended the venting charts to me, and got me thinking about all this stuff--much appreciated.
-shawn

Mike Cascio

It sounds like the main vents are sized adequately? Did you ever think of checking the size of the radiators in question (In EDR) to the size of the supply valves. The supply valves may not be large enough to heat the radiators properly.

Michael J. Cascio

Steamhead (in transit)

Main vents are OK

for the riser, try drilling & tapping a 1/8" hole in the riser pipe and install a Gorton #C therein. You can drill the hole in the pipe where it's convenient, if the pipe is exposed on the floor below you can put it there, near the ceiling.

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shawn_11

Thank you all for the good advice.

The concensus seems to be to stick a Gorton C vent on the riser pipe, not the first radiator section. Out of curiosity, are folks wary of putting it on the radiator due to risk of cracking the cast iron, or is something else better about going off the pipe?

Also, I don't think the supply valves are limiting, they are hammond valves on 1.5 inch pipe.

Bob W._3

It won't crack the cast. Think about what extra large vents do on a radiator. They allow the air to escape rapidly and they vent the riser as well as the rad. Steam comes in fast and condenses. Possible expansion noises and spitting are the result. If you vent the riser you can control the venting of the radiator separately. Do you have The Lost Art of Steam Heating? If not, I would suggest you get it. It seems that Dan's whole point about steam is that the system must be looked at as a whole, not a sum of parts. If one change is made (or happens as a result of time or neglect), it affects something else in the system. Its a question of balance. (apologies to the Moody Blues)