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Baseboard leaking help please

LetsFixThis
LetsFixThis Member Posts: 3
in Plumbing
Hey guys. So my daughters room baseboard and the bathroom leaks no matter what i do since I bought my house.

I replaced the valves. I brought 2 Plummer’s. They just looked at it. Said it’s not pitched up enough. Just pitch it up and you should be good.

I’ve pitched them to the max. It still leaks. Please help.

Also, for some reason when the radiator in the bathroom is turned on, it sounds like there is water running. (Literally like the faucet is on).

Any help will greatly be appreciated.

Or referring me to someone who won’t break the bank.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,276
    Looks to my tired old eyes as though the valves on those sections may be ordinary globe valves. Those will trap the condensate on the radiator side, and gurgle and burp and sometimes bang -- and make the Gortons spit. On at least one of the radiators you also have a concentric reducer in the inlet, which will do the same thing. Rather hard to fix without taking that plumbing out and using steam radiator valves and eccentric reducers...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Canucker
  • LetsFixThis
    LetsFixThis Member Posts: 3
    Thank you for the response Jamie. So does this require to break down the wall and replace everything as one plumber once suggested?

    Any particular steam radiator valve you would recommend to purchase in time? Thank you.

    Or maybe anyone you can refer to in Brooklyn, NY
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,569
    Check the find a contractor tab at the top of the page. There should be someone in your area.
    You want to find a qualified steam heating professional. Some plumbers are qualified to work on steam systems, others, like the one that did this previous work, are not.
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
    Intplm.SuperTech
  • Long Beach Ed
    Long Beach Ed Member Posts: 1,202
    edited December 2019
    Baseboard radiators are notorious on steam systems. Everything in the system piping effects the performance. Steam quality is exceptionally important. There are also better ways to pipe baseboard than using a single pipe.

    You have options, from simple to complex. First, I'd replace the Chinese steam vent with an American made one with a small orifice. A slower vent will produce less start-up condensate and make time for it to drain from the properly pitched radiator. The pitch should also be as extreme as you can make.

    If that doesn't work, you can try piping the vent up on a 6" nipple. That will get it up and away from the condensate.

    Your valve is a gate valve, so that's probably not an issue. The supply pipe and the runout from the main has to be properly sized also.

    You also have to look at steam quality. The near-boiler piping has to be done properly and the water has to be clean to produce dry steam. Carry-over water and wet steam is no help. Make sure steam pressure is low.

    Finally, baseboard steam is best installed with two pipes, using a separate return through a water seal back to the bottom of a steam main. This way the condensate's not running counter to and sharing the supply.

    A probable easy fix would be to replace this old baseboard with a traditional iron radiator, which was likely there once in the first place.

    In the worst case, this is a day's work for a qualified steamfitter, and that costs a few bucks.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,060
    Then what pressure is your boiler running at?
    Pictures of the gauge and pressure control, not too close, would help.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,276
    There are several really good folks found on the Find a Contractor tab.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,632
    If it is just the wrong fittings, that should be fixable without tearing in to anything. Also need to look at the whole system and make sure it isn't running too high a pressure or producing wet steam.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,060
    edited December 2019
    Many of your problems may start in the basement at the boiler.

    Something to correct first, benefits the entire system.
    This may have been the weak link to show symptoms first.
  • LetsFixThis
    LetsFixThis Member Posts: 3
    edited January 2020
    Thank you all for the response. I Had 3 guys come. 2 were not sure what was going on. Their recommendation was test everything thinking it might be simply as just elevating it because it’s level or maybe a bigger job. Were not sure. Can cost anywhere from a few hundred or thousand dollars, but need to start the job to figure out the cost. Can’t give me estimate until they start the work (do not feel easy about it as I’ve dealt with a Plummer 2 times in the past we’re I was charged for a 10 min job to tighten a shower handle and demanding $ and another guy “cleaning the furnace and demanding $ by showing me muddy water which he opened the handle and let the muddy water come out until it became somewhat clear - 20 min).

    The last guy said my baseboards i have are garbage and that I should replace it with cast iron radiators $ each for the entire house which is over $???
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,569
    Pricing discussions are not allowed on the site. Please edit and remove pricing.
    Did you try to find steam professionals on this site or elsewhere? Even though steam systems have pipes, they are generally not in the plumbers wheelhouse.
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
    Erin Holohan Haskell

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