New Heating System

Eric Tardif

Here are the winter results to converting my oil-fired, forced hot water Burnham V83 into gas-fired, steam heat: $300 per month instead of $400. So I saved and will probably get back my $3000 heating installation in about 5 years. Incidentally, the oil-to-gas conversion burner is a Wayne P265 installed just using the manual without special equipment.

Now the wife wants to remodel the basement. So the steam pipes have got to go since they stick out really far into the space. There would be no head room if they staid. The cost of moving them is significant - may as well install a narrow tubed pex forced hot water system with baseboard.

Should I convert the same boiler back to forced hot water or get a whole new system. What do you recommend if it's a new system? The single family, 1.5 story cape house has old steam radiators and no where to vent a Rinnai out the wall to meet code. I also have a new 50 gallon gas hot water heater. The boiler doesn't have a hot water coil.

The new heating installation must be less than $10000 or my wife will hit the roof.

Steamhead (in transit)

It is possible

to run steam mains flat against the ceiling joists. BUT- each runout must come off the bottom of the main and each riser to a radiator must be dripped.

Somewhere I have a Dead Men's Book illustrating this, if I find it I'll scan it for you.

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Joe Brix

1 or 2 pipe steam

You might be able to covert to HW with 2 pipe. Converting the boiler would be the easy part. If the rads and pipes can handle the pressure, my fear would be you don't have enough radiation for the space now that you'd be running the system at lower temps. You might need to supplement with more rads or hydroair. Still a lot of if's.

Eric Tardif

When the steam pipe first leaves the boiler,

it nearly touches the joist and it would be perfect if all the pipes were that close to the joists since we'll be using a hanging ceiling.

I googled dripped risers and found the following book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-t8JAAAAIAAJ

On the upper left side of the screen, click "Read this book". It has lots of plumbing terms and diagrams. I think I found the illustration showing a dripped riser system:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-t8JAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA11&lpg=RA5-PA11&dq=dripped+piping&source=web&ots=7OLJQrXb54&sig=IEPThzeMu2fbo8AZgtT5WArS-R4&hl=en#PRA5-PA11,M2

It looks like the dripped riser system will need to connect to the return pipe below the top of the water level. Why can't the original main take the condensation back to the boiler?

Eric Tardif

It's one pipe

It's only a one pipe - so I would have to tear it out to use forced hot water.