Help me determine if the new radiator is undersized or not
I am replacing an old 12 section radiator. I don't have the precise measurement but it looks bigger than the new radiator. Wondering if it's undersized and by how much.
New radiator measurement 19"H x 24 1/2"L x 4 1/2"W, 4 Tubes, 14 Sections
Comments
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What is the reason for the replacement?
It looks bigger than the old one, so I can't imagine it's undersized, but the first question I asked might help us answer more accurately.
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What are the dimensions of the one you removed?
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Old is 19"H x 26"L x 8"W
New is 19"H x 24 1/2"L x 4 1/2"W, 4 Tubes, 14 Sections
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When we checked last year, it was warm on the bottom, cold on the top. We have replaced the vent and it was acting the same way. And this is the room with the thermostat.
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@jimdav , how many tubes per section in the old radiator? And can you see what brand it is? Also, what vent is on it?
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If it was warm on the bottom and cold on the top — that's not the radiator's problem, and I would imagine the new one will be the same. I'd be looking at the vent and the inlet valve and the piping.
Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
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That's not a problem with the radiator, sounds like a balance issue that this radiator may not be getting enough steam. That could be a problem elsewhere in the house with too much venting on other radiators. A radiator is essentially an empty chamber, other than a leak there basically isn't anything that can go wrong with them to need replaced. Inlet valves can sometimes have issues that cause poor heating, but pretty much never the actual radiator.
I'd suggest you need to go a bit deeper into the system to evaluate. What main venting do you have? What vents (brand and size) are on all the radiators.
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@jimdav changing the radiator may not be the fix. All a radiator mis is a chunk of cast iron. No moving parts to go bad
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how much water came out when you removed it?
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Sorry, I can't reply to everyone. I suspect there's something wrong with my system as it seems to be producing wet steam when it's really cold out and that caused second floor to have a hard time heating up. Pressure build up and short cycling happens during cold days. The thermostat room is probably not very well insulated which also contributed to the problem. (frequent call for heat)
Below is a diagram of my steam system. We have 4 units. The thermostat is in room furthest away from the boiler. All the room vents are using Maid O Mist(#/letter indicate their size). My main vent is a big mouth and a gorton #1.
The room that I am planning to replace the radiator is 2F BR C. But I notice similar symptoms with other radiators in that unit. We kind of hope replacing the radiator would solve it temporarily but i know deep inside it wouldn't. Just wasn't sure what to do next.
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if it really is cold on all of the top and warm on the bottom, that sounds like liquid water being pushed up in to the radiator by the system and collecting in the bottom of the radiator and warming it. If steam is getting in the radiator and condensing to produce the warm water in the bottom of the radiator you will feel at least some heat up the side and probably at the top of the radiator on the end by the valve. if it is cool above the valve then water is getting in to the radiator instead of steam.
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@jimdav , where are you located? We might know someone who can help you………..
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It does sound like that's what had happened. Last year was pretty bad. The couple years prior wasn't that bad. We even replaced the boiler when we moved in a 5 years ago. Hired someone from here and they installed a brand new boiler with hartford loop to prevent wet steam. But seems to be still happening. All the radiators are sloped correctly. Did everything we could without tearing down the walls/floor to inspect the pipes which is outside of our budget.
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if the boiler is piped properly, surging or priming usually has to do with the water in the boiler being contaminated with oil or dirt.
you can have who installed it back to figure it out. there are lots of system problems that could cause water to be pushed somewhere too. It isn't just about slope.
1 pipe valves must be either all the way open or closed.
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can we see the boiler?
what's the pressure set to? running at?
known to beat dead horses0
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