Steam radiator to hot water conversion, can this work?

ALH_4

I have been convinced by very knowledgeable people on this forum that conversion is generally not advisable.

Why are they looking to convert? The biggest savings result from making the existing system work correctly. TRV's can be used to zone, if desired. I'm sure this church would like the most bang for their buck, and a new steam boiler and some R&R is probably just that. Replacement could be quite costly unless this is a very small church.

If the system is so far gone that replacement is the only option, I would not recommend reuse of the old radiators, particularly when the sections are not connected at the top. The output will be greatly reduced and leaks are likely. It would be best to use all new emitters.

Mike Barth

steam radiato to hot water conversion, can this work?

I looked at a job in a church the other day. They have an old steam system they want replaced with a hydronic system. Would it be possible to use the existing steam radiators (no upper connecting nipple)? My thought was to connect each radiator to a manifold with PEX and use a vacuum pump to remove the air so that the radiator would fill with water. I don't know if this would even work, but I would like to hear from anyone that may have experience with this.

Unknown

Conversions

can work sometimes, but why would the Church want to do that? I have seen many Churches convert steam to HW because they could not find experienced tradesman to repair the steam system, and usually they end-up being sorry they did as the BTU factor from steam is different than HW. Always the EDR must be increased with HW.

Dave

Steamhead (in transit)

Those radiators

will NOT work with hot-water. Period.

Fix the steam system and save them a bunch of money and hassle.

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Christian Egli_2

Eh, it's a church, they can burn candles.

Converting from steam does not sound like a good plan for a warm congregation. You'll be a bigger hero for fixing the current steam and getting it to operate with all and more of the efficiencies any brand new system can provide.

Can you make a profitable business for eternity out of purging the air from those steam radiators?

Your vacuum idea is very intriguing. Conceptually it should work - but only just once, only just the first time you fill the system. What about dissolved air later on? Plus, even getting the old (and rather loose steam pipes) to the total vacuum necessary for the proper air bleed is near impossible; even vacuumized systems never hold their tightness for more than hours. You'd need repeated miracles for all that to work as hoped.

Meanwhile, steam is really the cool thing.

Unknown

I don`t

even know where this Church is, but I think I just got told! Could there be an underlying message here?

Dave