Hi there,

Well I moved into a turn of the century victorian home. One of the first things I did was hire a respected boiler specialist in the area to start the boiler and make sure everything was running properly and inform me on how to maintain a boiler furnace. It runs great and the specialist checked all the valves on the radiators ect. Well all the radiators were running fine for a week or so . Then 2 of the upstairs radiators started making noises every time the heater would heat. Basically these radiators were filling up with water the one fills up to where water drips from the regulator valve so I have had to shut that particular radiator off although it still makes some noises in the plumbing and seems to be filling a little w/ water. I called my heating specialist who has over forty years experience and he suggested i clean all the regultor valves (2 at a time) in White vineger for at least an afternoon soaking so I have soaked all the valves in the house and they are definetly cleaner. Also I allowed them to dry out before putting them back on. I haven't done the two larger ones in the basement yet that come off the plumbing. They seem to be functioning fine and my guy took them off and checked them anyway.
So why are these particular radiators upstairs filling with water while all the other radiators function so well throughout the house? I am going to call my guy soon... I don't want to bug him just yet. Also, The heater does keep the proper water level and I maintain the heater by flushing it properly water has been generally clear for the most part since the specialist came out.. when we first fired it up.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions,
Thanks

 

Two things to check first:

1)If you have a one-pipe system, the make sure that the radiator valve is fully open. If it is partially closed then the condensate may be blocked from draining out. 2) Check the pitch of these radiators. They should be straight across all the columns (no sag in the radiator) and pitched toward the valve. After many years of heating cycles, old radiators may sag between the feet, or the legs opposite the valve may have worn a groove in the floor, changing the pitch. If the pitch is off, shim it till it's pitched correctly.

If these items are OK, then the radiator may be venting too quickly (condensing steam at a rate higher than it can drain out) or you might have wet steam issues.

BTW, What pressure is the system running at?

 

how are the walls behind those radiators if they are real cool even cold they might be shocking the steam to condensate too fast...and that tipping towards the supply line is critical

 

I have the same problem with one of my radiators. I've been trying to figure it out for a long time. Asked a lot of people and no solid answers yet.

I removed the entire radiator from the valve and water still pours out of the open shutoff valve when the heat is running. So it's got nothing to do with the radiator or vent.

It's got something to do with the piping, pressure, or configuration of the piping. If you fix yours, please tell me how you did it.

Gabe

 

Thanks Gabe,

My thoughts exactly. The other day the problem seamed to have gone away so i opened the valve for more heat in my bedroom for the night. Well, It was fine for almost two days.. this afternoon i walked into the bedroom and heard it doing the same thing..woosh, woosh spitting water into the radiator. So i shut it off. I am thinking that maybe towards the bottom of the plumbing it is filled with sediment enough to where with pressure it will push water up but not drain it out. Hopefully thats not the case. At the end of winter, when i have the money, I plan to call back out the specialists that i had out to start the thing and check everything out. Actually I may call them soon and ask questions.. they're a small, third generation business dealing with boilers. If anyone knows it would be them. If I get answers i'll let you know.
Thanks,
Mr. Johnson

 

Three questions.
1. What pressure are you operating at?
2. Does the water level in the boiler hold steady when making steam?
3. Are the main steam lines insulated.

 

Hi Rbeck,
The operating pressure is at 3 lbs.

The water level drops every few days to where i'll manually turn on the water to the the auto feed (throttled) and keep it on for about an hr until its at a proper level. The boiler specialists marked 2 sharpie marks on the glass to show where the level should run. I have'nt had them back out just b/c I don't want to spend the money right now. Now, its just the one radiator on the second level of the house that without fail gets water and I have it shut off at the valve. Also, I've been very careful not to overfill hoping that maybe it will level out over time with flushing as well. But Its been almost 2 months of monitoring and I haven't seen any change.

The main steam lines are well insulated.

 

Three pounds is too much. it should not be over two. Feed water for an hour. Where is it all going? Normally you feed water for less than a minute. The make-up water should only need to be fed once a month or no more than once a week. But very little amounts.
If you haven't see this link yet do some reading here.
Steam FAQ

 

Well, I just double checked the pressure gauge its running under two lbs. It actually has been running under two most of the time. I'am not sure why I said 3lbs before.
Also the water runs only into the Mcdonnel water control and I don't believe that all of the water is going in all at once thats why I'll leave it on... throttled to a position that the steam specialists had marked with a sharpie. They left it at this position to feed the water control but I called him about this problem and he said to just shut off that water supply so I did but the water level gets too low after about 4 days. So thats why I've been manually feeding the water contol. To get the level back to normal or what I think is Normal according to the gauge. It takes about an hour for the water level to get from very low to just under half in the glass gauge. Thanks for the info let me know if you have any more and I'll check out the site as well.

 

If its a two pipe system then check the thermostatic valve on the return side. If it's a one pipe system then I would agree its pitch. Since you didn't confirm its a one pipe system or two its hard to say.

Moreover, it's strange that your boiler takes so long for the water level to get to an acceptable level (about half way up the sight glass). I have a Peerless boiler that only takes about 30 seconds to get to an acceptable level. I have to add make up water too, but that only takes 10 seconds or so after a blow down. The blow down clears the rusty water from my LWCO (Low Water Cut Off) sensor. But I only do it once a week when I perform maintenance other than that I NEVER add additional water. And, if it weren't for the blow down, I wouldn't need to add any additional water.

However, seeing how old this thread was started I assume you must have completed your repairs by now. But, this might help others who have the same problem. GOOD LUCK!