maid o mist radiator vents

Jeff_74

First of all I'm a home owner, not a professional....I bought 10 of these vents
(#6') because that's all the local supplier sold. I called Maid-o-mist and asked to
purchase different sized orafices. I was told I could by them, but they cost as much as the entire vent. To be able to balance my rads, I just drilled bigger holes in the orafices. I kept the #6 as for my smaller rads and drilled bigger holes for the others. I know it's not very scientific but it has worked for the last few years.

ttekushan_3

maid o mist radiator vent orifices

OK. Maid o Mist radiator vents (by Jacobus) have the little screw-in orifices, like the Gortons do. Very, very easy to remove and replace. The way these vents are retailed, you order the vent by the orifice number. So if I order a #5, I get a vent with a #5 orifice screwed in the top. Order a #4 and I get the exact same vent with a #4 orifice. So far so good.

Now just try to order a vent orifice kit, or a specific orifice, and they won't sell it to you. You get an orifice all right, but its got a full price vent attached to it!

So my questions for those who may know: 1) Do Gorton orifices fit in the Jacobus Maid o Mist? 2) if so, does Gorton offer the orifices for sale separately?

Gorton is not sold in my area, but the maid o mists are. All the local suppliers carry them. They appear to be Gorton knock-offs as I can't see visible differences between them (from pictures). Their orifices have the same odd numbering system and specifications. But I can't see if they will interchange.

Anyone know for sure? Gerry Gill in the audience today?

-Terry

P.S. the situation is this: an outfit recently replaced all the vents in a new client's building with maid o mist #5's. All 110 of them the same. I need about 40 #4's to balance it. It is inherently wasteful to replace that many newish vents!

And if I may further pontificate, I think that selling a vent like this without making available an orifice kit is just plain dumb. There are just enough vagueries to individual steam heating systems that being able to touch up the venting on one radiator or another to tweak the system into balance is the way to go. Seems like the original designers of these vents intended this. Pontification complete for now.

Big Ed_3

Why don't...

..you order Hoffmann with the adjustable orifice instead. Save you time and tape later on. Better looking valve to boot..

Steamhead (in transit)

As far as I know

the Maid-o-Mist orifices are not available separately. Gorton does not use removable orifices on their vents. Looks like you'll have to bite the bullet and order more vents- the building owners can keep some of the #5s as spares.

Besides the orifices, the main difference between the Gorton and the Maid-o-Mist vents are that the M-o-M uses a plastic float inside the vent, whereas the Gorton float is brass.

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ttekushan_3

Thanks everybody--

> OK. Maid o Mist radiator vents (by Jacobus) have

> the little screw-in orifices, like the Gortons

> do. Very, very easy to remove and replace. The

> way these vents are retailed, you order the vent

> by the orifice number. So if I order a #5, I get

> a vent with a #5 orifice screwed in the top.

> Order a #4 and I get the exact same vent with a

> #4 orifice. So far so good.

>

> Now just try to

> order a vent orifice kit, or a specific orifice,

> and they won't sell it to you. You get an

> orifice all right, but its got a full price vent

> attached to it!

>

> So my questions for those who

> may know: 1) Do Gorton orifices fit in the

> Jacobus Maid o Mist? 2) if so, does Gorton offer

> the orifices for sale separately?

>

> Gorton is

> not sold in my area, but the maid o mists are.

> All the local suppliers carry them. They appear

> to be Gorton knock-offs as I can't see visible

> differences between them (from pictures). Their

> orifices have the same odd numbering system and

> specifications. But I can't see if they will

> interchange.

>

> Anyone know for sure? Gerry Gill

> in the audience today?

>

> -Terry

>

> P.S. the

> situation is this: an outfit recently replaced

> all the vents in a new client's building with

> maid o mist #5's. All 110 of them the same. I

> need about 40 #4's to balance it. It is

> inherently wasteful to replace that many newish

> vents!

>

> And if I may further pontificate, I

> think that selling a vent like this without

> making available an orifice kit is just plain

> dumb. There are just enough vagueries to

> individual steam heating systems that being able

> to touch up the venting on one radiator or

> another to tweak the system into balance is the

> way to go. Seems like the original designers of

> these vents intended this. Pontification

> complete for now.

ttekushan_3

Thanks everybody--

Thanks for your input. I guess we're screwed

Maid o Mist has a potentially great feature there. So we need a zillion new vents. They will be another brand.

BTW, The comment about drilling them is correct. I've used indexed drills for this purpuse. Works great. I also made one smaller by soldering the opening closed and redrilling. Will I do this for 50+ of them in occupied apartments? Ithinknot.

Thanks again.

-Terry

tekbasse

Maid O Mist orifices

I realize this is an old thread, but just in case someone else finds this useful:



From what I can tell, the Hoffman adjustables seem to only cover the performance range for #4 and #5 Gorton orifices.



You can get the Maid-O-Mist orifices separate from the vents at:  dekkasupply.com . They're also available individually.