Steam or not to steam

N.S

HO really wants new steam boiler and radiant floor in new addtion. How to get radiant floor ( Gypcrete ) from a steamer.??? Has it ever been done before ??

N.S

Steam or not to steam

Can I or should I add 1000 sq/ft radiant to a two pipe steam change out.And how to get radiant slab temps from a steamer, Or just change to pumped hot water boiler system.
steam or not to steam ????

Christian Egli_2

Add steam - easy do

In Denver where downtown's steam is somewhat of an historic landmark and where, by living at an altitude a mile high above the clouds, it all boils way below 212F - you'd do best to keep everything steam... .

In Colorado, steam is the super mod con hot water boiler trump card. A winning hand.

Cunner_2

What fuel?

Are we talking gas or oil?

Christian Egli_2

Hot is hot and cold is cold

Well then, asking for the best of all worlds, keep the steam intact, make it work with great efficiency and comfort. This is best achieved by keeping it on a strict steam output regime.

Steam heat comes on ON and OFF with the same vigor the weather attacks us. Meaning, if it gets cold in the morning, click, turn the heat on and prepare for immediate blast off. Too hot already? quench the steam and all goes flat - about that quick. (this near zero delay is one of the great keys to understanding why steam heat is efficient) And sophisticated controls are not necessary.

Cool

Hot watered radiant floors deliver great steady comfort, usually with lots of disregard to what the weather is doing. Meaning, if you're planning on being cozy in the morning, you'd better think of timing the warm up to the middle of the night. Then, if you're planning on not being roasted in the afternoon, make sure the hot floors are already tapering off as you wake up. Efficiencies only come through smart control which is achieved with electronics. Easy.

Cozy comfort

The point I'm getting at is that steam and hot water are quite different: while steam has to be tamed, hot water has to be whipped into action.

Controls for both systems are thus naturally divergent and you can't have any that operate for the mutual benefit of each other. (Unless you just simply keep the steam live at all times and the water on a constant hot simmer - a ridiculous approach to home heating)

What else can be improved?

Surely your home needs domestic hot water too. I would look deep into getting the most efficient combination of a small instantaneous boiler and a storage tank (or any other such combination) for the production of indirect hot water and separate radiant floor heat. Domestic production follows the same control lines as radiant floor heat does. You'll gain much in simply producing hot water more efficiently than you do today.

In summary, I would go with a stand alone steam only boiler, and a new separate hot water production unit for both the radiant and the domestic coil. Scrap the hot water tank and / or the domestic coil in the steam boiler.

N.S

Natural gas.

steve pajek

it can be done

we did it with a 26,000 btu heat load for radiant on an old coal converted steamer. we used a tfi everhot heat exchanger and it worked very well. make sure your boiler is sized properly. you'll use the piping pick up portion of the btu load of the boiler to heat your radiant. check the questions and answers section of this website for condensate water heating.

N.S

Great !!! Thanks guys . That was the answer I was looking for