since 1928

dick darne

i removed the #75, it is ok & new. i put a full flow ball valve in its place, left it open & tried it. no results. thoroughly checked pitch ok. disconnected furthest rad, ( first on supply, first on ret.), disc. return at boiler, poured 1.5 gal water in ret. & 1.5 gal came out other end immediately. i disc. one other rad & chk. outlet ok. this system never had any other vents (or problems ) if i have a good rad. sq. ft., how would you adj firing rate? thanks, d.d.

dick darne

stumped & unable to enjoy retirement.

i have a customer with an old ISC 2 pipe system. originally inst. 1928 with ideal boiler, orig. coal, then oil, & since 1956 gas conv. burner. i serviced burner without any steam problems since early 80's. i retired in 02, my sucessors replaced the burner, & it has not worked since. i came out of retirement, as this lady is looking to me to fix it.there are no traps, but ISC orfices/ check valves on rad. outlets. one #75 vent at end of return. rads will not get hot on bottom, i counted sections adj input appropiately & tried more & less to no avail. what am i missing?

Steamhead (in transit)

\"ISC\" system?

That name is new to me, but it sounds like a variation of Vapor. I'd love to see some pics!

I suspect an air venting problem. If the air can't get out, the steam can't get in. You know that the air from the rads goes into the dry return and out thru that Hoffman #75 vent. I'll bet that vent is stuck closed. Remove it, and if the rads heat you've found the problem. Also check the pressuretrol, it may have been cranked up to try to "solve" this problem.

While you're at it, check to see if the ends of the steam mains are vented properly. Correcting any problems found here will save the lady a lot of fuel. Measure the length and diameter of each steam main and we can tell you what's needed.

jeff_51

suspect you are heating faster

with that new burner, and that would suggest a venting problem as steam head suggested. He knows a heck of alot more than i do though

Steamhead (in transit)

Thanks

for the kind words, Jeff!

Steamhead (in transit)

Well......

since you've verified the firing rate, next thing to ask is where is the steam going. There may be a huge leak in the boiler above the waterline that is sending the steam up the chimney instead of out to the system. Flood the boiler up into the steam mains to be sure- if you see water on the floor, it's time for a boiler.

dick darne

stumped & unable to enjoy retirement.

thanks, steamhead. i'm laid up right now w/ arthritis. i'll take some pics when i go back. even after 44 yrs in the trade one's reasoning can lapse. i never checked for steam leak. the lady kept insisting that: 1) chimney was much warmer. 2) bill was much higher. 3)the upper left corner of the boiler was much hotter. this year alone i came out to chk 2 old boilers & found above waterline leaks. we'll see soon.

Steamhead (in transit)

****, be sure

to let us know what you found. From your latest post I'd put money on steam leaking out of the boiler. I suspect that Hoffman #75 was too small for the system, which could lead to an acid condensate problem as described in chapter 8 of "The Lost Art of Steam Heating". This could have accelerated the boiler's demise.

Also, what part of the country are you in? The ISC Vapor system may have been a system that was primarily sold in a certain region- like the Mouat system in the Cleveland area or the Hutchison system in the DC area. We'd love to know more about it.

One of my criteria for "enjoying my retirement" is to still be able to work on steam and Vapor systems when I felt like it. I'm nowhere near that point yet though!

Always good to "talk" to a retired steam man!