New to steam question part 1.

Brad White

generally means kidney stones so is not a steam issue. ;)

The booster tank would be piped directly to the immersion coil and a bronze shuttle pump would work off the tank aquastat which will fire the boiler as is done now. You still draw off the tank as you would any other.

The radiant would be a below the waterline arrangement, not related to the domestic side. An indirect or any good heat exchanger would work fine and give some buffer capacity to keep boiler cycles longer with less on-off. The secondary side is piped like any radiant system, to manifolds for example.

Chris Jones_3

lots of Steam system questions

This is my first winter in a steam heated house. 1912 one pipe steam system with approx 25 year old weil boiler burning at 78% eff. Historicaly, 2500 sf housein Southern Vermont uses 1100 gallons of oil a year (reasonably insulated). Currently the domestic water is heated through tankless coil no problems with low pressure etc. Thanks to steamhead I got the correct size Gorton vents to replace dole #4 main steam vents. The pressuretrol is set at its lowest settings

Question #1 Would an indirect water heater save fuel? Should it be run from the existing coil?

Question #2 There does not apear to be a header. The steam riser goes vertically to a T which splits the piping into two mains that follow the basement walls. There is both an equalizerand a hartford loop. It looks like this is orginal has anyone experienced this?

Question #3 All the radiators have dole adjustable vents that are quite old. All vents appear to work. Does anyone have experience with them, also thaey seem to be quite loud in operation as they click with the steam cycles

Question #4 previous owner, knucklehead removed two radiators, how will this effect system performance.

Question #5 does turning off radiators save fuel as the boiler is sized for the edr for the entire house.

Question #6 the second floor overheats as the thermostat is in the coolest room(nw corner with lots of glass) room on the first floor, I have set the second floor vents on their lowest settings. Does this effect fuel usage.

Question #7 Next year I will be ripping out the second floor bath down to the studs. I have designed houses for other people with radiant floor/ wall in the shower and bathroom using hydronic boilers. I stick to layouts and insulation not system design. Is this impossible with steam? I know I would propably need a seperate heat exchanger for radiant water heated by the condensate. I have seen indirect water heaters with two coils (amtrol) that I thought might work fo this situation. Now Its your time to "abuse" the architect that is new to steam. BTW I am usually a site superintendant and not premadonna architect. Thanks for your imput-

Chris

Unknown

Use one of these

Use a water-to-water one, use the coil for the new loop, and the shell for the dirty boiler water. That way, it works even when you don't need steam. Saves zoning the steam side.

http://www.tfi-everhot.com/ExternalTankless.html

http://www.heatinghelp.com/pdfs/346.pdf

Noel

Brad White

Ooooh! Oooooh!

Sorry. I get excited sometimes.

1)Indirect: If you have an immersion coil as the only heat source, a charging tank ("booster" with storage not generating capacity such as a SuperStor Ultra Booster) makes more sense and will lessen cycle times/lenghten run times when DHW is the only demand. Storage is use-time. A bronze shuttle pump to charge the tank is needed.

2) Header- May not be the classic ideal but if it works don't fix it. If you get spitting and wet steam you can re-think it. When this boiler goes, I would do it up right at that time, not before assuming it works fine.

3) Any vent that makes noise is either undersized or an indication that your steam pressure is too high or that your mains could be vented better. Seeing as you have new main vents and low pressure, maybe a vinegar boil-out if you have concerns? May be some mineral build up. Can you live with them? Replacement is always an option too.

4) Removed radiators: Tough call. Did the removal address a lessening of heat loss? A surplus above boiler output? At worst it would increase your available steam surplus. If added back in, how would your EDR total be compared to the boiler output and the house heat loss? (See Q. 5 also.)

5) Turning off radiators as with removing them- the effect depends on where the total radiation is compared to heat loss. For exaggeration say you have a 100 MBH boiler in a 50 MBH heat loss house with 25 MBH worth of radiators. Your boiler would cycle on pressure and cycle trying to meet heat loss. Probably never get their either. Not sure if that makes sense but trying to illustrate an unknown. Visualize the effects of several combinations.

6) Setting any vent to a slower setting forestalls steam reaching them. This does save money. Try TRV vent valves instead and do the same thing based on temperature. Nice and even...

7) Secondary radiant is absolutely possible with steam and you described a way to do it. Did I miss the question?

Brad

Chris Jones_3

clarifications

Most of the removal of the radiators was for furniture placement I think. The radiator in the second floor bath is also missing, my guess is someone didn't enjoy burning their bum while standing at the sink. The valves go clink-psss-clink every steam cycle they are only slightly annoying but do not spit steam. How would you pipe both a coil booster and a radiant zone?
Thanks, Chris