We have an oil steam system. There are Dole valves - 1A on each of the radiators. We bought new ones. They don't seem to be working. They look like a bullet shape with a screw in (on the side of the bullet) to the radiator. On the top of the bullet is a slit with numbers 1-10 on a dial. A picture we saw on the web showed a plastic piece of tubing in the screw part which looks like it goes into the radiator. If we remove the valve, the radiator gets hot with steam coming out of the hole. With the new valve on, the radiator barely gets warm. We're in Piscataway, NJ 08854. H-E-L-P.
Seems to me that a steam valve would need to hold a lot more pressure than a hot water valve. Steam is a high pressure gas and water is a liquid irregardless how hot it is (below boiling point) I am not a qualified plumber or boiler tech but personally I wouldn't use a steam valve for water or vise versa.
First off these are vents , the valves are at the bottom of the radiator where the pipes come in. Sounds like the vents are either closed or broken. Try turning the adjustment screw if that doesn't work I recomend replacing the with vent from a company called ventrite the valve you are looking for is a vent rite #1. These are adjustable vents used to balance the heat throughout your unit the dial at the bottom is labeled 1-8 start with all of them on 8. Now when the radiators heat up if you find some are getting hotter faster turn those down a notch and check again in a day or so.
