PressureTrol Settings

Giovanni722 · January 5

hi all, could you please help me confirm that my pressure trip settings are right. Before this was set to 2.5 psi and I have dropped it a bit since my last post but I didn’t touch the left lever. Could you please help me make sure that what I have is right? 1700 sqft house with 9 steam radiators. Much appreciated as always!

Jamie Hall · January 5

That will do for one pipe steam and "normal" two pipe, although you could go a bit lower on the main scale.

Giovanni722 · January 5

thanks as always @Jamie Hall, drop is to 2? Or below 2?

Jamie Hall · January 5

Try just a shade below 2

ethicalpaul · January 5

I’d put the diff at 1 probably, but these devices are so poorly calibrated that it’s impossible to tell what they’re actually doing unless you have a 0-3psi gauge next to them that you can refer to as they operate

Giovanni722 · January 16

Im starting to hear a lot of clanging in my pipes after the heat cuts off… could this have anything to do with the pressure settings? I replaced all of the steam vents… how can I bleed the system of air? Thanks! @Jamie Hall @ethicalpaul

ethicalpaul · January 16

banging is from steam or water getting where it’s not supposed to be due to incorrect piping and/or surging from bad water.

Do your radiators have one pipe or two?

I can’t get a good read on your piping from those pictures

Giovanni722 · January 16

the radiators have one pipe so I have them pitched back to the valve. @ethicalpaul

ethicalpaul · January 16

Don't worry about the pitch. I was asking to find out if you had a 1-pipe or 2-pipe system 🙂

Since you have a 1-pipe system, no the pressuretrol settings are not causing your banging.

Can you show some pictures of your wet return (the pipe you probably have that is near the floor that returns water to the boiler)? and some more of the pipes above your boiler? (take the photos from a few feet away and several angles so we can see all the pipes and the boiler from the floor to the ceiling.)

I really want to see the side opposite your pressuretrol. It looks like that's where your return reconnects to the boiler but I can't tell for sure.

Giovanni722 · January 16

@ethicalpaul these were the best I could do! Thanks!

ethicalpaul · January 16

Thank you, that's very good. It may be that the hartford loop is too high. I'll show you a cutaway of what I'm talking about.

You don't want this to be at the waterline or I think it can bang. You might try a lower or higher waterline temporarily to see if the banging goes away.

ethicalpaul · January 16

This part is good. It's good to have the wet return very low like this:

tcassano87 · January 16

pressuretrol should be

2 at Main

1.5 at differential

So you will have a high of 2psi and a low of .5psi

tcassano87 · January 16

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1835472#Comment_1835472

Hartford Loop should be 2” below the water level

ethicalpaul · January 16

The header construction seems odd too, I can't quite figure it out even from the new pictures. I think the two supply pipes are on opposing sides of a cross with the mains being fed from the other opposing sides.

Do you see the water level dropping more than about 1/2" during steam production?

mattmia2 · January 16

Are you sure this noise is water hammer and not expansion and contraction of the piping or other parts?

It is a little unusual for water hammer to start after the boiler stops.

Your near boiler piping is….creative.

The fact that the skim port looks like it has never been used doesn't look like a good sign. What happens to the water level during a cycle?

Giovanni722 · 12:35AM

I bought this house 2 years ago and inherited this boiler so it’s my first time ever having a steam boiler lol it may not be a water hammer… it sounds more like a gong up in my bedroom… but the. While I’m sitting in my living room, I hear bangs downstairs by the boiler… doesn’t happen a lot but enough to annoy me… yeah I agree that the piping is… interesting… also it seems I should be upping the main psi to 2 and differential to 1.5 in the pressuretrol? And yeah I’ve never used the skim port? Should I be? Should I get a professional here? I appreciate all the responses!

mattmia2 · 1:02AM

The skim port should have been used by the installer to remove the oils from the boiler when it was installed.

The pressuretrol should be at more like 8 oz/in^2 but that control doesn't go that low. it needs almost no pressure for the steam to move. Like a couple in wc.

PressureTrol Settings

Comments

Categories