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Rushing Air Vent, sometimes

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klmcc1894
klmcc1894 Member Posts: 2
in Strictly Steam

I have a 1926 two story house with single pipe steam. Mostly, the system works fine.

Sometimes, one radiator will have a steady heavy stream of air coming out of the vent. This lasts for much of the time the system is active during a heating cycle. If this happens a couple of times, the water level in the boiler is noticeable lower.

This never happens when it is very cold, only when the temperature is warmer, like 40, and the systems doesn't have to turn on only once in 10 hours (I haven't timed this). It doesnt' even happen 100% of the time when then.

Not sure what I should check or try to understand this.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 27,341

    Well, one thought that comes to mind is that a main vent sometimes sticks closed…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • klmcc1894
    klmcc1894 Member Posts: 2

    If the main vent stuck, wouldn't that affect other radiators too? This only happens on one.

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,758

    It may be affecting them as well, but they aren't noisy about it.

    I'm most interested in the water level issue that you said is related to this…I can't currently think of how that relationship would exist

    The thing I would do if I were there would be to start a call for heat and be in the basement from the beginning to the end to see and feel what is happening. I would follow the steam's progress around the main, monitoring the main vent and having someone monitor the problem radiator.

    Be sure you aren't hearing the "inhale" that happens at the end of a call for heat from air being pushed back into the system after the steam collapses.

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

    dabrakeman

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