Heating Help

2 different issues ...

@ January 23, 2012 6:34 PM in snubbed by the snubber ...

the vacuum "problem" is not related to the inability for the vaporstat to reset the cut-out. i submit that the snubber may be the culprit here,and I was looking for anyone else with a snubber to chime in.

the vacuum "problem" has been discussed here on the wall several times .. it is due to the contraction of the cooled air between the pigtail and the gauge (presuming the gauge is on the same pigtail). where, as the singular place in the vented system, vacuum is never broken, i was simply looking for a way to break that vacuum.

i have an independent 0-30 manual reset p-trol which is a safety control and NOT an operating control such as the vaporstat.  they are out of different taps on the boiler and are on their own pigtails.

thanks ..

@ January 23, 2012 4:09 PM in snubbed by the snubber ...

I get it now ... thanks for the description ..

I still think that a little Taco 417 valve might do the trick .. but again it may not since there is never really supposed to be water up that high .. or maybe there is at a few oz of pressure .. i've never been inside a pigtail. http://www.taco-hvac.com/uploads/FileLibrary/100-7.1.pdf

I'll get one tomorrow and test it out .. will report back

jpf

looked at

@ January 23, 2012 11:54 AM in snubbed by the snubber ...

a 288a todaY. I sucked and blew and couldn't figure out how it worked.

i don't believe snubber defective. i think more likely, vaporstats are the culprit and perhaps they wear out or drift  out of calibration enough to cause a problem at the very low pressures.

exactly...

@ January 23, 2012 11:48 AM in snubbed by the snubber ...

i just realized that insulating the pipes around the gauge area would help since the severe vacuum is caused by the cooling off as well. But i'd love to hash out an automatic way to break that vacuum as well.

snubbed by the snubber ...

@ January 22, 2012 9:20 PM in snubbed by the snubber ...

On 2 different boilers where I have a snubber & vaporstat installed, I am suddenly having problems whereby the vaporstat is not "resetting" after pressure drop ... in actuality, the pressure is not dropping through the cut-in but being held slightly above it .. and thusly leading to a no-heat condition.

Is any other snubber-lubber seeing this problem? I removed the snubber in one of the units and things seem to work much better now.

On a slightly different yet very similiar point, is there any way to allow complete/automatic vaccuum release in the vaporstat tree above the pigtail? I was thinking about a Taco 417 hydro air vent (coin valve) or something. Perhaps a small vaccuum breaker, which I can't seem to really source from anyone...

Do we know where you are?

@ January 15, 2012 10:56 PM in five cold radiators on three risers, I'm scratching my head

Where in the world is niftyc? I'd love to have a look if you are in NYC METRO.

ahh. Champaign, IL.. Maybe you can get boilerpro over to you..

Did you look

@ January 15, 2012 4:49 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

@ the answer?

ANSWERS.. If you are giving up

@ January 15, 2012 11:24 AM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

http://goo.gl/DNf43
And
http://goo.gl/YkScy

congrats to ROD who sent me a private message with the correct answer after remembering our conversation/thread of 2yrs ago

Hmmmm..

@ January 15, 2012 11:18 AM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

Where would this thing be inserted in your mind?

Yes

@ January 15, 2012 11:10 AM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

Yes.. 1st w mod.. 2nd "removed"

JPGVideo freeware

@ January 14, 2012 10:48 AM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

JPGVideo is a little piece of freeware software that will take same-sized JPGs and make them into an AVI movie... http://download.cnet.com/JPGVideo/3640-2140_4-77457.html

As soon as I had all the pictures 200 for the 1st video and 300 for the 2nd .. it only took 3mins to make the video ..

well ...

@ January 14, 2012 10:46 AM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

considering that not even Dan H. has a reference for the original article (neither date nor publication source) .. and the only google reference I can find for the author is in a Michigan Newspaper dated 1916 .. (not even sure this is the correct person) .. it's not something that comes up much I suppose ..

however, I'm confident that the 1st video radiator is heating better than the 2nd. overall, it stayed hotter .. and heated more thoroughly more quickly 20mins vs. 30mins. from steam to initial inlet.

overall, the concept makes sense once you realize what's been done and what's going on ..

i'm on my way out the door now until tomorrow night without connectivity ... i'm glad some others know the answer and can manage the thread while I'm away ..

cast iron rads/baseboards

@ January 13, 2012 11:48 PM in radiators/baseboards

available at www.simplyplumbing.com (local to NYC) ...

http://search.simplyplumbing.com/results.php?catalog=yhst-58098396986444&query=governale&submit=&list=

did something similar on ....

@ January 13, 2012 11:33 PM in Peerless 63-3L Install by All Steamed Up, Inc.

my aunt's boiler .. in fact I used the gauge tapping for my pressure-trol tree and the other tapping for my vaporstat tree ...

if you want to get steam to the far side of a water trap ...

@ January 13, 2012 11:13 PM in five cold radiators on three risers, I'm scratching my head

if you want to get steam to the far side of a water trap ...  have a read of this recent thread ...
http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/139100/stumped-and-need-your-help

In my case, I wanted the return water to get past the very deep trap .. but it works just the same to get the steam across .. of course, you'll need your pro to replace those elbows at the top of your U with t's.

does he need the space ...

@ January 13, 2012 10:45 PM in Smaller Steam

does he need the space that the rads are occupying or does he just want to not provide heat to that floor...i guess the question really is why not simply turn them off? either by plugging the vent hole or by installing a TRV set on 0? or an 1/8" valve onthe vent tapping?

or does he just want them gone?

if you remove the rad, this removes that much EDR load so you can adjust the boiler size accordingly and you can simply cap the pipe on the floor .. that riser pipe will not heat if capped or if rad turned off.

HTH

IF ANYONE FINDS MY ORIGINAL POST....

@ January 13, 2012 10:31 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

If any finds my original post of 2yrs ago .. just state that you found it without necessarily revealing the answer .. you get half-credit .. let some more minds work on it without looking at the "solutions found in the back of the book".

hmmmm....

@ January 13, 2012 10:16 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

too many answers here would be quite telling ..

i'm not sure if you're on track .. or simply stating theories from observation ..

i provided facts above that I'm comfortable with. but answers to you I may not feel so comfortable ...

what I will say is that if you bought a brand new governale "gov free" or similar radiator it would work out of the box like video #2 (aka NORMAL) ..

I see above that I say the rad was not "ALTERED" .. but then in response to Mark N. I say that it was altered .. I was incorrect in stating that it was not altered in my original post .. my apologies... the rad was modified .. but how? vent remained in same place .. vent was exactly the same and unaltered .. this is NOT a venting issue per se.

I looked back .. it turns out that Mark N. was also the first responder to my post about this 2 years ago. And fittingly, he was first/only to reply correctly today .. I wonder if he remembered our previous discussion or if he finally went for it?? Perhaps he was too "chicken" like rod?

nope ..

@ January 13, 2012 10:06 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

sorry ... you've completely over-thought the answer ..
i wouldn't be able to necessarily replicate dynamic TRV changes systemwide ... i only mentioned them above simply to say that they are not part of the solution .. in about 5 mins I could replicate, on-demand, either scenario .. on this rad .. likely longer on other rads...but my intention is to get them all into the ABNORMAL state of Video #1

nope ...

@ January 13, 2012 5:53 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

yes .. this is a 1-pipe system ...
nope the pitch of the radiator was not changed at all between the 2 shoots ...

FYI, the 1st video, (20mins elapsed) is the ABNORMAL condition ..
the 2nd video (30min elapsed) is what I would presume to be, in most cases, the NORMAL condition.

jpf

actually Mark ..

@ January 13, 2012 2:58 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

it's the first video that was altered in the way you described .. the 20min (16s) video .. not the 2nd video. perhaps you typo'd 

well that ....

@ January 13, 2012 2:23 PM in a puzzle for all you super-smart steamies

didnt take long :-) .. enjoy the videos ... mark N got it right .. maybe he can edit his post to hide the answer for a few others to work out the answer ..