House cold when warmer outside..

Dave DeFord_5

Thanks steamhead - sorry it took so long for me to look at this post but I've been pretty busy at work. From reading the instructions for my T87F thermostat it looks like the cycle times are controlled by the anticipator settings. Is this right?

Dave DeFord_5

House cold when warm outside

I live in south central Michigan and thanks to this site and Dan's books I now have a quiet and fairly evenly heating one pipe steam system. The issue I now have is that when it is warmer outside (20-30 deg.) my house feels colder than when it it is colder outside (-10 to 20 deg). I'm pretty sure that this has to do with the fairly long recovery time for the heating system. When it is working it's little guts out when the outside temp is low the radiators stay hot and the heat is even. When it is warmer outside the heat cycles on and off and it less even. I was thinking that this might be solved by an outdoor reset but I can't seem to find anything on this site about steam and outdoor resets, only hot water. I should probably add that this is an 85 year old farm house that is made of salt glazed tile (think cement block) with just about no insulation in the walls. The ceilings are insulated but I'm not sure of the R value. The ceiling insulation is blown in fiberglass under the attic floor. I'm thinking it is about 6". Any suggestions outside of insulating the walls to make the house more comfortable. I will probably insulate the walls in the future but it is a HUGE undertaking and not in the cards right now. I should probably also add that the boiler is a Weil McLain PEG 55 connected to about 329 EDR of radiators.

don_185

you could

Always add some latent capacity with a humidifider.

Steamhead (in transit)

Check the cycling rate of the thermostat

if the cycles are too short in mild weather it will cause the symptoms you have. How to do this depends on the type of thermostat you have.

Also check to see that your steam mains are properly vented. Measure the length and diameter of each main and tell us what vent is on it. Proper main venting will reduce the heating-up time and help all radiators heat evenly.

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