| Author |
Message |
    
Flik Chik
Citizen
Username: Flikchik
Post Number: 1
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 10:23 am: |     |
We have steam heating in our 1916 home that does not work well in two out of the four bedrooms. The previous owners told us that since these were the last rooms in the loop and did the steam was ineffective by the time it got to them.
Any idea on what is going on?
How do we fix this? |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 2062
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 10:34 am: | |
close down the heaters in the first 2 rooms a spec, that should force the heat to the others. At least that is what I would try. |
Ruck1977
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 74
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 12:24 pm: | |
Could be that your boiler does not have the capacity to heat the extra rooms. Was the boiler replaced? Sometimes it is not "sized" correctly. If it wasn't replaced, I'd find it odd that the original would be incorrectly sized. |
rssounds
Citizen
Username: Rssounds
Post Number: 230
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 12:27 pm: | |
Make sure the supply valves are full open. Sounds like the air valves on the side of the radiator are not working properly. I would replace all the valves with adjustable valves. You can buy them at Palmer plumbing. Set the bathroom and rooms that are the farthest away from the furnace wide open. The other radiators will need a bit of adjustment until you can get the house to come up to temp evenly. It's an easy solution that you can do yourself. |
Jim Murphy
Citizen
Username: Jimmurphy
Post Number: 151
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 1:28 pm: | |
Another possibility is your thermostat.
Steam heat requires a higher anticipator setting than other heat sources to ensure that the boiler cycles are longer - long enough to get steam to those farthest radiators.
Remove the thermostat cover and check it. If low, crank it up and see if it has an effect. If so, great, if not, just move it back down. Can't hurt a thing.
Also, as Rssounds mentioned, if it's one-pipe steam, don't throttle the raditor supply valves - they should be either fully open or fully closed.
Good luck,
Jim |
Flik Chik
Citizen
Username: Flikchik
Post Number: 2
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 1:42 pm: | |
Unfortunately the valves are stuck!!! Any ideas on shaking them loose?
Also we have two different kinds of heaters....the old fashioned ones (radiator?) and the baseboard kind - both connected to the same steam heat system. Do both have valves? |
tjohn
Citizen
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 2391
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 7:22 pm: | |
It may be a good idea to give your steam system a complete tune-up.
First, in the basement, you have steam mains running from your boiler. Since you have an older house, you may have perimeter mains where the mains run from the boiler to the basement wall and along the wall all of the way around the basement. Riser go from the mains up to the radiators. There should be one riser per radiator although this design rule is undoubtedly violated from time to time.
Now, at the ends of the steam mains, there should be copper colored or chrome colored main vents. The idea is that air should vent from the mains as quickly as possible so that steam reaches all of the risers without delay. If these main vents look old or corroded, they should be replaced with new vents.
The steam mains should be insulated.
On each room radiator, whether it is a traditional radiator or a steam baseboard, there will be two valves. The first is a large shut-off valve that forms the connection between the steam riser and the radiator. As another poster noted, the valve should always be wide open. The only time you would shut it off is if the radiator was disconnected for some reason. If any of these shutoff valves is inoperable or leaking, it can be replaced. If somebody in your house enjoys muscle work with the risk of collateral damage (e.g. a riser gets broken), you can replace these yourself otherwise call a plumber.
The other valve of interest on each radiator is the air vent. The air vent on a traditional radiator should be on the side opposite from the shut-off valve about halfway up the radiator. On a steam baseboard, it should be at the opposite end from the shutoff valve.
If these air vents look old, they should be replaced. This web site ( http://www.gorton-valves.com/specify.htm ) describes some of the sizing considerations for radiator air vents.
If the radiators still do not heat properly after this basic maintenance, it is possible that the radiator is incorrectly pitched allowing water to puddle in it. This puddle will condense a lot of steam before it becomes hot enough to allow steam to fill the entire radiator. Alternatively, you might have a horizontal run in a riser with a puddle in it. If the radiator heats up at least a little bit, I would tend to discount this possibility.
Anyway, lots of options. If you like fiddling with things, you can do a lot of this yourself, otherwise find a plumber who knows steam heat.
Good luck. |
Richard O'Connor
Citizen
Username: Roconn
Post Number: 217
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 10:25 am: | |
Need to do a tuneup on your own.... check out (its really worth the money)
We Got Steam Heat by Dan Holohan buy it online at
www.heatinghelp.com
Its invaluable.
Richard (ROC)
--Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.--
--AIM: ROConn |
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