1 pipe steam system -excessive fuel use-vents tested-poor heat

Long Beach Ed

... send us a photo of the near-boiler piping.

Baseboard sometimes causes problems if it's not piped or pitched correctly.

Remove the vents on the baseboard and see if it heats. ANd get new main vents.

BTW, what did the $1800 buy?

Long Beach Ed

Richard Secor

One pipe steam system excessive fuel use& poor heat distribution

A relative purchased an small older home with one-pipe system. Had contractor check system and made $1800 worth of changes. Thus far this winter, they experience excessive fuel use (despite keeping house temperature at 63 F),and several radiators not heating.

So far we have tested the vents on radiators and found them working. We found that in order to heat the baseboard radiators on the first floor (half the home's total radiators), it was necessary to completely remove their vents, and it took over 40 minutes to get 3/4 of those radiators hot.

We have found but not tested the two main air vents, however both appear to get hot when boiler is generating steam, so I assume they're working. Also, the boiler's stack temp (using a contact thermometer) is 300 F +/-, and there does not appear to be steam coming out of the boiler exhaust. Finaly, there is no surging or pulsing in the system, and the boiler water is reasonably clean (did not test PH yet|).

My question is where do I go from here?

gerry gill

try flooding the boiler

to check for a hole..when was the last time the bottom of the boiler was cleaned..i'm thinking of a hot dog being heated in a pot with an inch of mud on the pots bottom.. also remove the main vents and time how long it takes to get steam there..add enough vents to equal this time..that would be my starting points.

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Steamhead (in transit)

Also try

the Find a Professional page of this site. There are plenty of people there who can solve your problems. If you're in the Baltimore area, contact me.

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