Posted by Lawrence on October 31, 2001 at 11:32:19:
Hello. Recently bought a house, older steam boiler (specs at home). I am having two problems I would not mind comments on:
In the kitchen, there is a "baseboard like configruation. A pipe, little larger thean normal baseboard, with the fins, connected via a normal loking steam pipe directly to the boiler. The pipe in the basement looks identical to the other pipes going to the normal radiators. The entire system is one pipe, but this run has no shut valve. There is a adjustable pressure vavle on the end of the pipe. Whenever the system is operating, steam comes out of the pressure valve, no matter if it is closed or not. The valve itself is adjustable on the top with a screw loosened to rotate a cap, and the cap has a little fin on it. Enough steam comes out of the vavle to need a paper towel under it, which gets soaked after a day or so. I know this setup is not normal. What I was planning on doing to fix it is getting a larger pressure valve. Anyone advice would be helpful.
On another pipe from the boiler is another radiator. The radiator is old, and while the pipe going to the radiator gets reasonably hot, only 1/2 the radiator gets even warm. There is a shutoff vavle, and it is fully open. On the radiator is a "valve like" object, but there does not seem to be something to push to bleed the system. I am not sure if this problem is related to the above problem.
Thanks for any help, Lawrence