Two Steam Related Questions

nicholas bonham-carter

are you sure your present boiler is in bad condition? maybe all you need is to make sure it is functioning as well as possible-ample venting, low pressure, clean burner, and good thermostat anticipation [and location]. of course the building envelope should be improved as well.

i leave my boiler over-full of water in the summer, but if you asked 3 steam pros what to do, you would get 6 answers.--nbc

Mark_125

What to do....

Hello again,

The winter is now nearly over and I'm thinking about the following:

1) Should I replace my gas-fired steam system with a pumped hot water or alternative given that my 1300 sqft house cost me over $500 a month to heat this winter. (Westchester, NY) The boiler is pretty old (20 years+), would I see savings if I just replaced it with a modern steam boiler or should I consider an alternative heating system.

2) Should I drain the steam boiler of water in readiness for the summer?

All opinions appreciated.

-Mark

Mark N

gas usage

Mark I'm in central NJ and I heat a similarly sized home with steam. I had a Burnham IN-4 installed on Dec 12th have have kept track of my usage since then. Before converting my usage was a little over a therm a day for cooking, hot water and cloths dryer. Since Dec. 12th I've used 514.3 therms. That comes to 4.43 a day and 3.43 a day for heating. I pay $1.57 per therm. My usage has averaged about 105 therms a month over that time for heating. That comes to $165/month. I've replaced my main vents and all my rad vents. My biggest money saver has been opening the lids to my rad covers this reduced my boiler run times about 10 minutes each time it runs. ALso, I keep the thermostat at 70 when we are home. I would keep the stream and get Dan's books.

Mark N

Boston_2

Just outside of Boston… the beginning of this winter we installed an new Burnham IN6 ( interestingly enough) our home is about the same size (1300sf) very small in comparison to the homes in our area. When we were on oil with an old Burnham, we used about 800 gal per season (about $1800.00). We averaged this winter 175.00 a month ( includes cooking, hot water and heat). System payback in about 3 -4 years.

We noticed a huge difference once we paired the boiler with a Honeywell Vision pro…

Mark_125

Thanks to all that have replied....I just got home and have identified the boiler as an American Standard 7BN J6 series boiler - does anybody have any information on this, how old, what the efficiency might be etc.

Thanks,
Mark

Steamhead (in transit)

Keep the steam

the American-Standard boiler line was sold to Burnham about 1971, so that tells us it's over 40 years old. A newer steam boiler, proper venting etc. should produce about the same saving as a much more expensive tear-out and replacement- and some contractors won't tell you this.

Are there any model numbers on that boiler besides 7BN J6? Is it oil or gas? If oil, what burner is on it?

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Mark_125

more boiler details

Its a natural gas boiler, the other information on the plate is as follows:

Boiler Number G28
BTUh IN 210000
BTUh OUT 168000
STEAM SQ.FT 525

Thanks,
Mark

Mark N

Mark how many radiators do you have? You have to determine how many square foot of EDR you have. Your boiler might be oversized. To derermine EDR you have to measure how tall the rads are, how many sections they have, and how many tubes are in each section. Hopefully you can determine what brand of rads you have. It helps to know to determine the sq. ft. of EDR per section. If it comes out to be near 525 sq.ft. your boiler is the right size.

Mark

Steamhead (in transit)

If that's the one I'm thinking of

it's less than 3 feet tall, and has relatively high stack temperatures. Fuel was real cheap back then.

If I'm right, you stand to gain much with a new steam boiler. The most efficient residential steamer is a wet-base power-burner type like the ones in the pics. The thermal efficiency of one of these boilers is about 6-7% better than the typical atmospheric gas boiler.

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World Plumber

Tweak the steam

I have a 1980 square foot house with a Burnham IN7. To date I have used $762.00 in gas for the 08-09 season. I used to be cold, uncomfortable, and high gas bills. I started running pipe to change to hot water. Dan talked me out out of it. I added vents and made some adjustments to the boiler. Now the house is warm and evenly heated within one degree through. I used to have up to a 40 degree difference between rooms in cold weather.
You might want to invest in the steamy deal it may be well worth it.