House in Progress Diary

If the radiator's a-knockin'...we call the experts

We shall sleep sweetly tonight.

Al & Jose from A&M stopped by. They are teaching us about our steam boiler. As I told Al, "I am beginning to understand that this system is like a violin...she likes to be kept in tune."

A & M had stopped by to help us learn the boilerwhen we had called them before the season started. And then we began using the system every day and had knocking and a few sleepless nights. Like some of YOU have had. We know this because "knocking, noisy radiators" has been the most popular search term on the site since winter began.

So Al was very kind and patient and tried to help us out with a few extra questions on the phone. We tried some things that definitely helped. But it seemed our problems were beyond the usual. So he came to check things out. He also helped us to remove the radiator in the first floor bathroom (prepping for a new bath there!) and plot our strategy to move the radiator in the second floor bath.

First, using a wrench, they removed our bathroom radiator. I'm glad THEY did it because:

a) it is the middle of winter and our system is on...steam burns are NO FUN if you don't know what you are doing, and
b) our built-in is right up against the radiator pipe. If it needed to be capped, someone REALLY creative and knowledgable was needed.

(Click to make the photo larger)

What the valve looks like inside...

What the radiator looks like, inside and out...

Luckily, our valve is tight enough to hold but only "just". It would have been difficult to cap and we'll have to watch it...it's an old one, but we'll keep lots of towels around and keep a careful eye on it.

Now! To the basement, to answer some of my new questions and check on the knocking! (See entry on "why does it knock?")

I had been concerned that I wasn't seeing a lot of change in the psi reading. You check that reading here:

We turned up the boiler and observed it in the middle of the cycle. Al pointed out that when the boiler is moving steam, our reading would show .5 psi (where the blue line is on the picture) and sure enough the line got there. I was worried that it had to be higher but that is all the pressure that is needed to move the steam right up through the house.

The sight glass is a little bit dirty (water in old steam systems gets dirty...it's a natural reaction between oxygen, iron and steam in the system) but not dirty enough to block reading it.

The photo isn't terrific but you can see the level. Al taught me a great trick...put a flashlight on one side and it is easier to see the water. Sight glasses are difficult and expensive to replace...we'll make due with ours for now.

The water should be at 1/3 to 1/2 full. Ours has been running a little high so I draw off a bucket or so of water once or twice a week. We have half of our radiators turned off (we aren't warming the rooms where we aren't living) so perhaps that is contributing. Again, something to keep an eye on. Al made some slight adjustments. If the water gets too low, a boiler should have a low water light that prevents the boiler from going dry. It also has a mechanism to shut the boiler down if there is no water. A dry boiler will explode if it turns on. Ours is working fine. (aka no worries, Dad)

Now to check the "pitch" of the pipes. Steam systems require the pipes to be angled slightly back towards the boiler from the radiators. Steam rises up and condensation runs back down. If the pipe has a "valley", the steam will hit the cooler water trapped in the pipe with a noise like a cannon...hence, "knocking".

Two of the radiators seemed to be the worst offenders...the one in the bedroom we're using and the one in the sunroom at the front of the house. So we got out a level to check them.

Sure enough,this pipe is at an angle...in the WRONG direction! This isn't surprising. It's an old house, the footing on the sunroom sank and has to be repaired. Sometimes radiators will settle the boards under them after years and years...they are pretty heavy.

Al and Jose take out a battery powered circular saw, I find some wood and they create some pretty heavy duty "shims" for the radiators. Then they use some leverage to get those radiators up and get those shims under them.

When they were done, NO MORE KNOCKING! And look...our pipes are angled the right amount of degrees in the proper direction...

But it's amazing what it took to get them that way. You can see that they had to pull the pipe up about a inch through the floor because the room and the boards had settled so much!

So, if you live on the northside of Chicago or in the north/northwest suburbs and you need your system "tuned" by the masters of steam/hot water/central air, call:

A & M
Heating & Cooling Specialists
Des Plaines, IL
847/803-1333
773/292-1313

(Tell Al's super sweet wife, Marci, that I said "Hi!")

They've been at this for a couple of decades and they KNOW old houses. They know new ones too. (It's the love of their work that keeps them looking young...funny, that's what A & I hope will happen to us with this house. Right?)

p.s. As always, House In Progress only mentions vendors here if we are 100% satisfied with their service or product. They don't ask us or pay us to...we offer. And we pay for our services and products just like everybody else so that you know you are getting an unbiased opinion.

Posted by jeanne on January 6, 2004 at 10:30 PM