How to heat 2nd floor from steam boiler?

Jim Franklin

Been thinking about this all day, and there's just no good way to get the piping where it needs to go without tearing out too much infrastructure. Looks like water this time. Appreciate the ideas though.

jim

Jim Franklin

I have to put heat on a new 2nd story. The 1st floor is mostly steam with one small 1st floor FHW zone and an indirect tank zone on this boiler. I've read the article on FHW zones off a steam system:
http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=29

I did a heat loss calc and have the BTUs available. How much "better" is it to use a heat exchanger? Will I run into air problems with the 2nd floor zone? Should I put in a primary loop with an air separator + mixing valve and take all the FHW zones off that or is that overkill? They'll all be 180 degrees supply temp.

thanks,
jim

Steamhead (in transit)

Why not

install steam on that 2nd floor?

Will the existing steam mains handle the load?

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Jim Franklin

For 300' of 1st floor radiation there is a single 2" main that splits into two 1.5" mains. I could tap a riser into one of those 1.5" mains to get upstairs through the plumbing chase. I only need 70' of radiation up there. I have no idea if that exceeds the mains' or riser's carrying capacity.

The biggest problem might be that the chase is on the south side of the house and I'm thinking I should have some heat on the north side, and there's no way to get an iron pipe across the house without seriously tearing stuff up. And the cost of black pipe (I'm repiping the header) gave me serious sticker shock. $100 for a 3" tee?!?!?

It would also be nice to zone the upstairs (bedrooms) and downstairs (kitchen/living rooms) separately. TRVs are nice but they only throttle, not call for heat.

jim

Steamhead (in transit)

A 2-inch parallel-flow main

can handle 386 square feet, so the 70 you want wouldn't be a problem. It would be best if you could take the riser(s) off the 2-inch portion.

The use of the second floor is a natural for TRVs, since bedrooms are typically kept cooler than main rooms.

And the connections to the boiler and the control system would be much simpler.

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