"Sue" wrote in message
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Where are the blow down valve and main drain down valves?

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Sorry, I am already out of my league on this. I have an old gas-fired steam
heater -- circa 1981, I think. On the outside of the heater, in the front,
near the bottom, there is a "blow down" valve with a bucket under it.

Both the plumber I had come out and the gas company service person said I am
supposed to open the blow down valve every so often (maybe every 2 weeks or
every month) so it drains off some of the hot water -- about a gallon or two
at a time, I think. That's supposed to keep it clean and keep crud from
building up and messing up some of the safety valves etc. I never had a
steam heating system before and having to do this all seems too weird for
me. It's a house that I bought that I am going to rent out, and I just
can't picture tenants being expected to do that. Plus, the hot water coming
out could scald a kid if they got the bright idea to turn the valve
themselves.

Maybe this is because I have an old steam heating system and maybe newer
models don't have all of that nonsense going on. So, maybe your system
doesn't even have a blow down valve. If newer systems are different and
don't have all of this craziness maybe I'll get a replacement heater put in.
I do know that I have to stick with steam heat because it is a single pipe
system which means it can't be converted to hot water radiator heat unless I
replace all of the radiators, piping, etc.

I went to the http://heatinghelp.com website and saw the message you posted
there. Seems like a very good website although I have no idea what the
siphon tube is that the person replying mentioned. But I may end up posting
some questions there of my own since I am new to this whole steam heat
concept.