Our comprehensive HVAC Systems Help Center covers a wide range of HVAC-related topics, including air conditioning and heat pumps, geothermal, hot-water heating, thermostats and controls, solar, steam heating, and warm air. We also have a section of informative and entertaining articles to help you sharpen your HVAC business skills. And our Heating Museum is a captivating journey through the evolution of HVAC technologies.
The system doesn't have main vents. Steam will always follow the path of least resistance. Since it's a gas, it doesn't understand the difference between up and down.
There are sags in the mains between the boiler and the main vents. Sags in the main give condensate a place to lay. This creates water hammer when the system starts again...
You can't see all the pipes. If you can't see them, suspect them. This is especially true of buried lines.
The system is corroding. All steam systems are open to the atmosphere. Whenever you mix water with iron and steel you're going to get rust, and that rust is going to wash...
Are you sure they're supposed to? Keep in mind the Dead Men sized those radiators to heat the room to a comfortable temperature on the coldest day of the year. That's the...
Steam and condensate flow in the same direction, and the pitch is less than one-inch in 20 feet. There should be no areas where condensate can gather when the system shut...
The air vents aren't working. And if they're not, the system will trap air and drive the fuel bills up. Steam and air are both gases, but steam is lighter than air so the...
The strainer is clogged. There should be a wye or a basket strainer on the inlet to the condensate pump. This strainer's job is to collect sediment from the system before...
The system is leaking. Do you have buried return lines? If so, they may be leaking.
The thermostat is out of calibration. If it is, the burner will be bouncing on and off. Make sure you use an ammeter when you're checking the calibration.
