2 pipe CI baseboard steam radiator

Steamhead (in transit)

is a heat loss calc. Some of the Dead Men really oversized their rads, and later improvements such as insulation and windows would cut heat loss even further.

If you're going to make over the entire system, you wouldn't need traps. Use an orifice at each rad inlet and a Vaporstat to keep the pressure below the orifice's design pressure point. This will keep steam out of the dry return.

If the house is small enough to need only one steam main and one dry return, the system as described above would need exactly four moving parts: steam main vent, dry return vent, Vaporstat and low-water cutoff. I have yet to see any other system with so few moving parts.

If the heat load is large enough, look into two-stage firing. This will let the system simmer at 3 ounces or so under light load conditions.

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jeffhelton

2 pipe Cast Iron Steam Baseboard

I have a customer that currently has CI 2 pipe radiators and a couple of CI baseboard 2 pipe steam radiators. She is asking for an estimate to replace more of the older radiators with CI 2 pipe baseboard. I think she is making a mistake but she wants the floor space. Any way my question is what critical things are there to take into consideration. ie..does the trap get attached to the baseboard right at the exit of the radiator or does it need to be down the line to let condensate accumulate to work properly. Is it best to have the feed on one side on the top and the return on the far side on the bottom? Any other issues? PS I do know steam systems well but have not ever been down this road in 24 years of doing heating work. Thanks in advance.

Brad White_9

One thing is the lengths...

I believe that you are limited to about nine feet of length. At 3.4 EDR (820 BTUH) per linear foot, I would double check your heat losses and available lengths before I committed to this.

One thing to gain floor space, another to block her doorways