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Pipes banging after new steam boiler install

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  • Truckermike
    Truckermike Member Posts: 43
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    What kind of air vent could I use to get air out quicker since I can’t get to my main?
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,662
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    That isnt how 2 pipe steam works. You need to find and fix all the places that steam is getting in to the returns. Whatever is at the ends of the mains that lets the air and condensate out and keeps the steam in needs to be working. There are a number of ways to do it so you need access.

    Those radiators that have neither metering valves nor steam traps need either orifice plates on the inlet or steam traps on the outlet to keep the steam from passing through them in to the return.

    Was the boiler skimmed after more piping was changed a couple days ago?
  • Truckermike
    Truckermike Member Posts: 43
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    I’m tearing my kitchen floor up to gain access until I redo my kitchen (couple years). So I need to put steam traps on every radiator? Would I be better replacing my valves or adding orifice plates? Yes the boiler was skimmed a couple times since then.
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,662
    edited November 2022
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    You could tee a vent in to the supply for those radiators served by the main in the crawlspace. Does that main connect to the return in the crawlspace or does it pitch out and have a drip outside the crawlspace? If the main connects to the return in the crawlspace you need something to block the steam from continuing in the return before any radiators connect to it. That could be a steam trap or it could be a return separate from the radiators that drops down below the water line outside the crawlspace.

    The way those radiators are piped makes me very concerned that it isnt piped in a way that can be made to work without modification in the crawlspace.
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,662
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    This is all based on the assumption that the radiators with the manual hot water vents are above the crawl space.

    Looking at your pictures some more, if that main just ends in the crawlspce and doesn't connect to the returns, only to the radiator supply. It looks like it slopes to a drip at the boiler. That drip needs to connect to the return below the water line.

    You can add a tee somewhere on the supply to those radiators and put a main vent there.

    You can add orifice plates to the radiator supply connection with a hole sized based on the size of the radiator. I dont think new metering valves are available.

    The boiler needs to be controlled with a vapor stat that keeps the pressure around 8 oz. or less for the orifice plates and your existing vapor valves to limit the amount of steam that goes in to the radiator to what the radiator can condense so it doesn't get in to the returns.

    What happens at the end of the main that isnt in the crawlspace?

    I forgot that this was the one with the main disappearing in the crawlspace.
  • Truckermike
    Truckermike Member Posts: 43
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    @mattmia2 the main in the crawl space is separate from the return I’ll put a picture showing it.It comes out and has a drip. That is my longest run going into the crawl space. The othe main I’d have to poke whole in the drywall to see it which is no big deal to do.

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