Converting to Hot Water Heat

Nron_13

Look at the insulation of the home first , the more insulation you have the less heat you need , some companies do energy audits , get one done if you can , then look at fixing your system , if improve the R value of the house, your costs to run the system will decrease , then have the heating system changed to the new heat load of the home . your contractor should do a heat losss calculator

Tom_98

My heating bills this winter have been way too high $800. This one zone steam heat system is way too much to run. I want to convert to a 4 zone hot water system with cast iron rads to keep the heat the same. Will this save me money?

Steamhead (in transit)

Steam heat doesn't have to be expensive to run

and yes, you can zone it.

If you try to re-use any part of your steam system with hot water, you run the risk of serious leaks. Hot-water runs at over ten times the pressure that steam does. Also, since a hot-water radiator won't give off nearly as many BTUs per square foot as a steam one, you may find the radiators won't heat the house properly on hot-water.

Our company does not recommend or perform the conversion of a steam system to hot-water, and we will not work on a system someone else has converted.

I'll bet you can make your existing system run much more efficiently, for much less money than a conversion or tear-out that some unscrupulous contractor might be trying to push. Our company has saved some of its steam customers over 30% on their fuel consumption. You need someone like this to look at your system.

Where are you located?

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Weezbo

steam delivers plenty of heat ...

you are not alone in noticing fuel bills...Insulate ventilate and heatilate is my mantra a long long time.

pouring water in a forced air system is similar advantage in what you were thinking of doing.

here is Why.

you pour water in the forced air furnace ...first thing you notice is.."Hey! i got Leaks!"

next thing you notice"Hey! It just aint getting enough Heat!"

then you Sad.

so you rip it all out.

thing is now you Still don't have heat or system and need a new boiler and system any way."

that has not really solved the original problem...heat is just bombing out the floors walls and ceiling more
"Efficiently"...

You get someone who thinks of your Home and you ...Tag click on find a professional....You might have a Mint heating distribution system...windows ,doors, floor joist, walls, ceilings,... they along with fanning the door, is where the heat gets on the good foot, fleeing your home and wallet.

Tom_98

Steamhead,
NY Queens Nassau Area.

Boilerpro_5

Listen to Steamhead

If you have a steam system with cast iron rads,all you probably need is to get the system running properly. I had a system last winter in a smaller commercial structure where the maintainance guys were constanstly getting call of being too hot, too cold and high fuel bills. We tuned up the system and boiler, improved some controls and cut fuel usage 40% and the maintainance guys were no longer getting complaints. The same compnay owns a bulding right next door of similiar construction but only 2/3 the size in which they tore out the steam system ansd installed "high efficiency" forced air. The overall heating costs for the both structures are now about the same....hmmmmm 1/3 more space, but same fuel usage. Give you an idea of how efficient steam systems can be.
As to zoning, your system is the easiest to zone of any type or kind of heating system. All you need is thermostatic valves installed on the radiators and you will have room by room control.

Boilerpro

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Steamhead (in transit)

Perfect!

Call Matt "Mad Dog" Sweeney, owner of Triple Crown P&H in Floral Park. Matt has installed a steam system from scratch in his own home, and it works great, so you know he can straighten your system out. Tell him we sent you.

Here's a link to Matt's Find a Professional ad:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=210&Step=30

And thanks, BP.

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bill nye_3

Tom, $800

$800 is TOO MUCH? for the year? or is that for a month? or a week? Oil is about $2.40 per gallon where I live, so one tankful, 250 gallons would be $600.

So anyone I know would love to heat their house for one and a third tanks of oil. Maybe I missed something? I am on a budget plan with my oil company, I pay approx $80 a month