Steam radiators and Home Inspectors

Nikolasvipam

Just use a saturated steam table out of any engineering manual. They are the law.

Jeff Perry_3

Steam radiators & Home Inspectors

I just love home inspectors (insert sarcasm here). Most are OK and know their limit. However, some just seem to need to write stuff on their list so that they can prove to the prospective homeowner that they are getting their monies worth.

I digress. Can someone give me a link to a respected article, or at least a respected source, that talks about what the temperature of a steam radiator will approximately be. I know that depending on the pressure the system is running (this is residential) we could see temperatures of the steam ranging from 218 for a 2 psi system up to 250 for a 15 psi system, even though the 15 psi is unlikely in a residence. This home inspector told the potential homeowner to get the boiler immediately serviced because the radiator temperatures were over 200 degrees and the system should be serviced to bring them down to a more normal 150 degrees. I can write a letter stating the facts that I just mentioned but I would love to include an article written from someone else. I looked in some of Dan's books I have but can't seem to find anything specific.

Thanks
Jeff Perry

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Every book I have rates the output of steam radiators in low-pressure steam system based on 215F radiator temp which assumes about 1 psi of steam. Even enormous buildings typically use 5 psi or less for space heating and the steam pros here generally say that you never need more than 2 psi for residential systems.

It follows that the max possible temp for steam radiators will be very close to the temp of the steam. This is normal and people--including children--have lived safely with rads at this temp for well over 100 years.

Long Beach Ed

If you're licensed...

I would simply say that steam radiators contain steam at low pressure and that the temp of steam is....

Then I'd include my licensing information.

Your master plumbers' license should be qualification enough that you don't have to cite any other source. If you're not a plumber, probably a letter from one would suffice. As they say...

It's academic.

I spent several years as a home inspector and many times home owners secured such letters from professionals to dispute my findings. It's not unusual that a home inspector doesn't know too much about these things.