converting to all baseboard steam radiators?????

Gene_3

you have to get a heat load calculation first which will figure in the square footage, windows, doors, ceiling, insulation and see what you need

Most older homes would have to be rebuilt before wall to wall baseboard would even come close to your current output

just changing radiators to baseboard would be like taking a 69 396SS chevelle and putting in a 4cylinder engine and then saying " will it be as fast?"

keep the steam, fix it, you'll miss it

sounds like you need a new floor and your steam system is full of mud, lack of maintenance maybe?

find a wally here in your area that will come out and at least give an estimate

Jason_26

is it plausable to convert to all baseboard radiators???

i have 1 baseboard in the kitchen and the rest are standup radiators and i was wondering if it would be plausable or even possible to put in all baseboard radiators instead. this is a 1-pipe steam system. i would like opinions on this idea good and bad. i am not syaing i am doing this i would just like to know if it is possible and if it would be ok to do in the future. will the house still stay warm in the winter things like that. the reason i am asking is that this system has been abused and forgotten about for many many years and now that i own the house i find myself not being able to sleep at night because one gets real loud water hammer and no short of replacing the piep going to it i cannt make it quite. and the one in my bed room never gets hot all the way across the bottom the top gets red hot and the very bottom across gets red hot but the middle stays very cold. the vent is in good working condition too.

Jason_26

also all the radiators are now digging into the floor and well they are creating wholes in the floor soon in a few years they will be through the floor. like i said before this system has been forgotten about. when i moved in the first time the heat kicked on 3 radiators started to puke water alot of water. how long that was happening i do not know i got them to stop that but the damage is done. so i would like baseboard because dont they connect to the wall instead of the floor.

Jason_26

maybe i wasnt clear i will be keeping the steam i have a steam baseboard in my kitchen already. nothing to change but the radiators. or maybe i am just misunderstanding you if i am let me know.

ttekushan_3

system problems vs baseboard

The problems you mention are mutually exclusive of the baseboard idea. Solve those problems first. Now to the baseboard idea. For steam the only thing to use is cast iron baseboard, such as Burnham Baseray. These maintain the even radiant heating thats the hallmark of a tuned steam heating system. To use long lengths of baseboard you must plumb in a separate return to handle condensate. These will not work efficiently in a single pipe set-up unless you have a knowledgeable person design the wet return piping layout.

Also bear in mind that a cast iron radiator in the typical living room is usually greater than 10000 btu. Baseboard is 820 btu a lineal foot. Do you have room to put 12' of open baseboard per radiator? I think that by the time you cut out the original wooden baseboard and purchase the new iron baseboard and do all the repiping you'll find that sliding away the radiators to repair the floor and renewing the radiator valve packing, etc is a much better investment. You'll be repairing that floor anyway!

-Terry

Steamhead (in transit)

I agree

keep the radiators and solve the system problems. You'll love the way they work when they work right.

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Jason_26

im located in eastern PA and right now they do work but still need to be cleaned and i think 2 valves are bad maybe all of them. that needs to wait till spring though.