Heating Help

Conversion

@ March 29, 2013 8:55 AM in Burnham MST Oil to Gas

Won't converting your Mega Steam to gas void the warranty? Also how does one quantify how much fuel has been saved by using a drop header instead of a regular header?

Mark

Vents

@ March 18, 2013 9:19 PM in How to test vents?

From what you say it seems they aren't sealing properly. Try rinsing them out and test them again. Under normal use I would think rads vents should last for decades. Having some extra vents around isn't a big deal.

Overshoot

@ March 18, 2013 3:18 PM in How to test vents?

Chris

By how much do you overshoot. It is almost impossible not to overshoot with a steam system. Why not try this. Do your 5 degree set back but set it recover 3 degree. It will most likely overshoot the other 2 degrees and the manually set it to hold at that temp. I've never used a programmable thermostat so I'm not sure if that is possible.

Mark

HDD

@ March 18, 2013 2:53 PM in How to test vents?

Never assume anything. For what town is the HDD from? What is the time period? Might be Newark for all you know and for the calendar month and your reading is in the middle of the month. If the reading doesn't come from a nearby weather station it is useless.

Gas Bill

@ March 18, 2013 1:57 PM in How to test vents?

Chris

My Feb. gas bill was also higher than my Jan. gas bill. What is your billing cycle. Mine is the middle of the month. My Feb. reading was on the 13th. Don't forget the real cold snap we had in New Jersey was in the beginning of Feb. I pay no attention to heating degree days and the tstat has been at 70 since my power came back after Sandy.

Leaky Vents

@ March 18, 2013 12:56 PM in How to test vents?

In theory if a rad vent has closed all the air should be out of the rad. In practice it depends. If the rad vent is closed and you here hissing I would think it is leaking some steam. If you can reliably get your pressuretrol to turn your system off at 1.5psi why would you need a vaporstat? If you boiler is properly sized it should never even cycle on pressure. Save your money for now. I would try rinsing out the vents first and see what happens.

Mark

Leak Test

@ March 18, 2013 11:06 AM in How to test vents?

Chris what makes you believe they are leaking? If they are closed because of steam, nothing should come out. Sometimes closed vents leak under excessive pressure. Have you tried rinsing them out with water? Maybe there is crud in the valve seat. Also are we talking main or rad vents?

Mark

No burden

@ March 6, 2013 7:46 PM in Rattling Copper Pipes - Arghhhh

It is no burden to me. Be realistic has the landlord made any attempt to repipe the rad? Most likely the floor would need to ripped up to get at the pipes. Is this likely to happen? They used undersized copper pipe on the rad. Are the rads in the other apartments piped like yours. Are the other tenants complaining?

What to do

@ March 6, 2013 5:05 PM in Rattling Copper Pipes - Arghhhh

There isn't really much you can do. You are a renter so can't really rip it out and repipe it properly. I can tell it really bothers you as you have posted about it all winter. I would move when the lease is up.

Oil

@ March 4, 2013 8:13 PM in Continue with steam or replace?

Most places in the northeast that don't have gas service are rural and at this time it doesn't make any economic sense to put in the infrastructure. Years ago they had rural electrification, now we need rural gasification.

Heating costs

@ March 4, 2013 6:34 PM in Continue with steam or replace?

Richard

How many gallons of oil were you using a year before you made all the improvements to your home? How many gallons a year are your neighbors using with homes of a similar size to yours that haven't made the improvements? I think PMJ hit the nail on the head, 600 gallons a year isn't bad for your climate. The problem is the price of heating oil. Do you use your boiler to make hot water? If so how many gallons does that use.

Gortons

@ March 2, 2013 1:04 PM in How to tell if you have wet steam?

I have Gorton #5's and #6's and 1 C.

Obsession

@ March 2, 2013 10:52 AM in How to tell if you have wet steam?

Chris if the piping is right and the water is good and the venting is adequate everything will be fine. Don't obsess and just sit back and enjoy the comfort,

Chirping Vent?

@ March 2, 2013 10:37 AM in How to tell if you have wet steam?

Chris I have Gorton vents on all of my rads and they are very quiet. A gorton C is a fast vent. I could see it causing the steam velocity in the riser to be to fast causing problems with condensate draining from the rad. One would think there would be less noises the more often the boiler runs because the piping is hotter therefore making less condensate.
I have no knowledge of steamaster tablets and side effects of using them. I use just regular water. The last boiler in my house lasted 75 years so I hoping my current can last for half that.

Wet Steam

@ March 2, 2013 10:20 AM in How to tell if you have wet steam?

Chris, wet steam can have different causes. It can be caused by poor near boiler piping or poor water quality. One would think if it was being caused by poor piping, the water level would drop causing the LWCO to trip. There would be poor steam distribution, high fuel bills, panting vents and water hammer. If being caused by poor water quality, I think you would see water or condensation in the upper part of the gauge glass maybe even water surging over the top of the gauge glass. Then most likely you would also have poor steam distribution, high fuel bills, tripping off on low water, water hammer and panting vents. If your piping is right and the water quality good I wouldn't even worry about it.

2 cph

@ February 26, 2013 8:23 PM in Honeywell CPH behavior?

The best thing to do is let it run and document how the system behaves. Keep track of how the long the boiler run on a call for heat. How long it stays off in between calls for heat. How many sections of the rads heat. Are you maintaining temps in all the rooms. Remember steam with cast iron rads is a high mass system and takes time to respond. I myself find that 1 cph and the 20 to 25 minutes cycles I get with it is the best way to keep my house very comfortable. I experience no overshoot.

2 CPH

@ February 26, 2013 7:46 PM in Honeywell CPH behavior?

Ok Chris how long did it actually run? Also since it didn't reach the set point, how long did it stay off before it refired? I would think it should have been about 15 minutes. How long did it run after it run on the second cycle?

Old Boiler

@ February 23, 2013 7:30 AM in Losing all the water in steam/oil boiler every day - changed return lines - still losing water

Your boiler is 78 years old. It sounds like it has earned its retirement. The amount of water your losing most likely the boiler has developed either a hole in a section or a crack. time to replace.

Pitch

@ February 18, 2013 7:05 PM in Water Clogging New Gorton Vents

You are correct the pitch is 1/4" in 10ft and I agree the straight shank vent might be the way to go for better drainage.

LAOSH

@ February 18, 2013 4:40 PM in Water Clogging New Gorton Vents

The last section of Chapter 7 in LAOSH goes over One pipe steam baseboard problems. With 1 1/4" baseboard the pitch should be 1/2" per 10ft for 5 ft of baseboard.

Old Vents

@ February 18, 2013 3:26 PM in Water Clogging New Gorton Vents

What were the old vents that you used on the baseboard? Did you ever have any problem with these clogging? Vents don't get much slower than Gorton #4's. Check the level, make sure they are pitched toward the tee. Good luck>

Baseboard

@ February 18, 2013 1:44 PM in Water Clogging New Gorton Vents

That is not exactly the proper way to pipe baseboard on steam. I don't know how many sqft of EDR 10 ft of baseboard is. What size is the pipe feeding baseboard? I would think it should be at least 11/4". Are the rest of the radiators in the house cast iron? You shouldn't mix cast iron and copper fin tube on the same zone. They heat and cool at different rates.