steam heat (single pipe) question

kiely

thanks, i cleaned or replaced all the radiator air valves and ended almost all my issues.

kiely

Yikes ! steam heat single pipe q's

I visited my mother and her steam heat had been on for weeks yet she had none of her valves to the radiators opened. The radiators were hot (convection thru the piping?) but i opened the valves to all the radiators, as it seemed that is how the system was designed to work. i ran into a host of issues … loud banging (H2O trapped in lines or radiator?) and a leak at between the valve and the radiator in one room (the leak seems to be hot water). Must the valves be fully opened or fully closed for proper functioning? I am going to try and clean and/or replace the radiators pressure release valves and perhaps shim a few to drain properly. Can I run the system w/o these radiator pressure valves to blow out water? where is the water? it seems to knock as the cycle begins. The whole system worked well last year but is so noisy now. Should i be checking/ replacing the main release valve? Should I have left it all alone w/ all the individual radiator valves closed? are there issues running the boiler w/ the radiators turned on that led to these symptoms? Yikes!

kiely

oh, forgot the jumping water in the glass

i just saw the water level jumping up and down in the glass tube. does that mean the system (er, boiler?) needs to be drained/cleaned? how is this done? hmmmm...lots a questions i'm new to this steam stuff. thanks

Steamhead (in transit)

With all the trouble she's having

you might be better off calling a pro. Have you tried the Find a Professional page of this site?

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

EBEBRATT-Ed

You have quite a few problems that it would be best to call in a professional to check the entire system.

That being said you can replace the radiator air vents -do this only with the boiler shut off. All the radiator valves must be fully open for the system to work properly. This will probably fix the unsteady water level problem.

I would suggest having a pro check the system to make sure it is safe and running at top efficiency-fuel is to expensive to waste and you may need additional vents installed.

Ed