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Valve identification and replacement help

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frankness
frankness Member Posts: 1
in Strictly Steam

I was hoping to get some help identifying this valve that I believe is the first radiator in my one pipe steam heating system. It is quite loud and so I’m trying to figure out if I should replace it and what I could replace it with.

Unfortunately the valve is in a tight spot and also seems to have gotten painted over a bit but if other pictures are needed I can certainly try to provide them. There does look to be a patent pending number of 1909413

I am still pretty new to steam heating and am making my way through Holohan’s We Got Steam Heat


thank you!!

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Comments

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 20,990

    It's an air vent with a 1/8" pipe thread. You can unscrew it by hand and replace it with a new vent. I would probably try a "Vent rite " brand which is adjustable

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 18,063

    it looks to be very old. It is probably bad but you should check the main venting and the pressuretrol settings and if the pigtail to the pressuretrol is clear at the same time.

    Since it seems to say vacuum valve, it probably has a check valve to allow the system to form a vacuum if all of the other vents are also vacuum valves. This was more useful with a coil fired boiler where the output of the fire died down over time than with gas or oil burners(it has a little bit of benefit but probably not enough to spend money on preserving that function).

    It looks like a variable valve. It could be replaced with a maid-o-mist with the set of different size orifices that you can swap for different venting rates. Or a Hoffman, or a few others. Be wary of no brand valves or other bargain valves, many of them are broken right out of the box.

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