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Re: Co-op in Brooklyn looking for steam consultant, 120 unit, single pipe, 1950s building
ยป drop from 117 in the morning to 108 without a load.
Gah! That's third-world level.
As my old boss was fond of saying, "The laws of physics are strictly enforced."
Politics is not a good way to make energy policy. One day, electricity is the answer to everything, and fossil fuel = bad, then it's good again, same with wind and solar, just 180 degrees out of phase.
It's a complex game. Electricity is great, but it has to come from somewhere. Renewables are fantastic, but they require a stable infrastructure that can smooth out the dips and valleys.
Gas is a great way to heat, because it's highly efficient and works down to arbitrarily cold temperatures. Heat pumps are good but at 5 F you'd be more efficient with gas. And when it's 5 F outside, most of your electricity will come from burning gas, but half the input energy is lost between the gas turbine and the wall outlet.
What we need is an intelligent mix, not rigid rules based on the doctrine du jour.
I'm not a fan of the present administration but I agree with energy secretary Chris Wright, who basically says, We Need It All.
mattmich
Re: Black soot around gravity heat registers
Could be that thermal "Lau-Vent" stack damper too, as @mattmia2 said. But I'd seriously consider replacing the whole unit, since something that old is probably rather inefficient.
Re: Black soot around gravity heat registers
Hi @anne29b, @mattmia2 covered the points, but I'd like to focus on the soot. It is made in the combustion chamber, which should be completely separated from the air you breathe by a heat exchanger. That heat exchanger clearly is leaking. Older gravity furnaces sometimes had cast iron heat exchangers, so there could be the possibility of replacing a failed gasket. I've welded up cracked heat exchangers, but it's not a small job. Of course, there would be no soot if it were burning correctly, but the heat exchanger is the elephant in this room. The one thing I'd do immediately is to get low level carbon monoxide detectors and put them in bedrooms. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the heat is on, you risk not waking up every morning. Currently you're doing 80 mph down the freeway and the steering wheel just fell off. ๐
Yours, Larry
Re: Compression fitting going from lead to anything modern (e.g. steel/brass)
A lead pressure pipe? That's been there for a while. As @mattmia2 said, it will be brittle. If it were mine I'd find out where it started at the other end and abandon the whole length of it. Repipe in PEX and a new sillcock.
Re: Main vents on Steam system
In your situation, @RTW , it really doesn't make much difference whether the vents on the steam mains are at the far ends beyond the last radiator or back at the boiler before they drop individually to a wet return/boiler inlet. In fact, from the perspective of the air and the steam arriving at a radiator it makes no difference at all. The only practical difference is that with the vents at the boiler, that whole section of line from the last radiator to the boiler gets steam, whereas when the vents are at the far end, it wouldn't.
And note. VERY CAREFULLY. The above applies when that "dry return" is directly connected to the steam main โ no traps or whatnot. If the dry return is a true dry return, which is only found in two pipe systems, the comment above does NOT apply.
Re: Co-op in Brooklyn looking for steam consultant, 120 unit, single pipe, 1950s building
Can't go wrong with any of these.
Re: Zone Valve malfunction?
I would disconnect and mark the wires to the zone valve to eliminate an electrical issue and see what happens
Re: Boiler Header?
Guess what circulators are made ofโฆ. A little bit of iron in a closed loop system is of zero consequence and absolutely does not require filtration or magnetic "concentrators".
GroundUp
Re: Main vents on Steam system
At the end of the main after the last radiator take off if you have wet returns. If the steam and condensate come back to the boiler above the water line they can go near the boiler before the drop.