CONVERTING 2 PIPE STEAM TO FORCED HOT WATER

Big Ed_4

A 70 year old can of worms :)

My Dad and I converted one 33 years ago. He is still bringing up that job from time to time . All that crud in the pipes are hiding alot of leaks. Now run water under pressure though them. Make me cringe .......

Bruce Willard

Converting 2 pipe steam to a forced hot water

Is there any literature or does anybody have any tips or suggestions for converting a two pipe steam vapor system into a forced hot water system. I recently looked at the job and the customer is intrested in this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steamhead (in transit)

If you like living dangerously

go right ahead.

Two major pitfalls are- since hot-water needs over 10 times the pressure that steam does, the increased pressure will do a great job of turning weak points into leaks. I've seen where this has happened and it ain't pretty.

Also, the radiators may not be big enough to heat the building when running on hot-water. Or if they are, you'll need to run them at such high temperatures that a condensing boiler won't condense..... bye-bye, high efficiency.

For a more in-depth discussion of this, go here:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=22

My company does not recommend or perform this type of conversion, and will not work on a system someone else has converted. We don't need the liability.

Vapor was the Cadillac of heating in its day and is still one of the best out there. With a modern, properly-sized boiler and with the system in good condition, it will be surprisingly efficient. And in an extended power or fuel failure, a Vapor system is far less prone to freezing than a hot-water system.

Keep it Vapor. Do you know what type of Vapor system it is (Broomell, Dunham, Webster etc)?

"Steamhead"

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

Don't take Steamhead's advice lightly! I've never made such a conversion, but have re-used rads formerly connected to steam systems with water systems. Leaks were VERY common. If you don't see threaded rods running across the radiator at top and bottom they are for all practical purposes impossible to disassemble.