Dole 1933 as Mains vent?!?!?

Cast Iron

Anyone think I could just stick a Heat Timer Varivalve on there as a Main vent?

Cast Iron

Dole 1933 as Mains vent?!?!?

So I read Dan's 'We Got Steam Heat' and I ordered the venting capacity chart and am trying to get my single pipe steam to work as well as possible. It's actually a very quiet system.

Here is the strange thing though. When I went to look at my only main vent in my basement, I found it to be a Dole 1933- Isn't this for radiators? Any idea why this would be the case? Can I just replace it with a mains vent? It's a short 2" 18' main.

Sean_11

Definitely undersized -

Funny - I had the same exact situation in the home I recently bought. Found out from here that the 1933 is designed for a convector. When I first fired up the boiler for heat, the main took 8-10 minutes to fill with steam, and I wasn't getting positive shut-off from the vent. My main is 32ft of 2" pipe. Since I replaced the 1933 with two Gorton #1s, my main fills and the vents close in 1-2 minutes. A big difference. Wasn't in the house long enough to compare fuel use year over year, but I'm sure that alone made a big difference.


Best regards,

Sean

Cast Iron

Great, thanks. When I removed the Dole the main filled in 3 minutes from when the header got hot, but like yours, the Dole wouldn't close until the system was on for quite some time.

Steamhead (in transit)

On a short main like yours

vent it with a Gorton #1 or a Hoffman #75. These have 1/2-inch female and 3/4-inch male threads, so if your 1933 had smaller threads you will need to remove the bushing it was screwed into.

Is this the only main in the house?

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Cast Iron

There are no other main vents. That was what I was wondering, the 1933 has smaller threads (similar to the size going coming out of a rad), so I wasn't sure how to attach the bigger vent. Basically, they attached a smaller pipe coming out of the end of the main.

I'll take a look to see if I can remove this short piece of little pipe the current 1933 is attached to.

Steamhead (in transit)

If they drilled and tapped 1/8\" threads

into the side of the main, get a Gorton #D radiator vent. It does about as well as the two main vents I mentioned earlier.

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Bob W._3

Here is a link to a place where you can get Gorton D's with a 1/8" straight shank:

http://www.pexsupply.com/index.cfm/action/catalog.browse/category_header/1/id_category/9ad86cb1-ac62-4f4d-a73b-594633b64ccc

Cast Iron

Great, that's what I need. The straight shank, not angled.

Steamhead (in transit)

I wouldn't

the Vari-Valve has no float, so if water backs up into it it will spill out of the vent. Use the Gorton.

"Steamhead"

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Cast Iron

Great,
Thanks to all of you for your advice. It's quite helpful.

Gorton # D it is!!!