Steam boiler

Ken Sappio

I would love to see pictures of some of the things you described. If you can please post some.

Thanks
Ken

Plumber7

Steam boiler 2 pipe

I have a great customer who just got a job in the new administration and is moving to DC. They want a more dependable heating system in their home and want the two steam boilers in their house replaced so the house sitter/maid doesn't have to worry about failures. The current larger system is two pipe steam. The larger boiler is a 6 section HB Smith 1875 sq ft of steam . The boiler has a gas gun that has a Min btu rating of 200,000 and max of 625,000. It's a Economite F400N33. The header is 6" with (2)- 3" (1)-2" (1)- 2-1/2 and (1) 1-1/2 steam mains. The systems have Webster series 28 vent traps, and # 0 return traps. There are two 3" risers up to the header.
My experience is 99% One pipe steam with conventional column and tube type cast iron radiators. This is one crazy house, where the architect had a great time designing every room differently with odd shapes and balconies, high ceilings with circular stair cases. It was built in the early 1900's.
The problem with this house is the radiation is also different in each room. I have 6 different styles of radiation and some of it I can't find in any book. I have just ordered a new Book from Dan and I hope this sheds some light. I do have to get back with a number very quickly.
This house has cast iron rads inside duct work in the basement with a pull chain to open fresh air ducts.I can't see them very well. There is three of them, they are around 40" x 10" and are 8 sections (cast Iron). In the basement I have cast iron rads hung from the ceiling, that are 6-6 section rads the size of each is 13" x 6" . There are fin tube convectors, cast iron convectors, column type radiators. So far with great effort I have come up with 700 sq ft of radiation without the in the duct radiators. This boiler has a Honeywell vapostat installed.
The smaller system for the Master bedroom suite is 170 square ft of steam. The current boiler for that is a Utica PEG 150.
My questions would be: Is there anywhere on-line where I could find the radiation that I can't find in the books I have now. Is there a better choice than a J-Series Utica boiler for the larger boiler and a PEG Utica for the smaller one. I always believed in using brands that your regular wholesalers sell to make parts and product information easier to obtain. There is a large crawl space where the piping is still insulated, but half the piping has been stripped of asbestos. What would the pick up factor be? Any tid-bits of information that may help me would be appreciated. Tom

Steamhead (in transit)

First off, those indirect radiators in the ducts

if you can't get at them, just use the capacity of the steam runout pipe that feeds each one. For example, assuming there is no drip at the end of the runout before it enters the indirect, according to Lost Art 1-1/4" pipe can handle 108 square feet, 1-1/2" can carry 168 square feet, 2" is good for 362 square feet, 2-1/2" will handle 528 square feet and so on.

As long as the pipes are insulated, there is no need to add more pickup factor. The boiler's Net ratings already have a 33% factor built in. Have the owners insulate the pipes rather than getting a bigger boiler.

For your boilers, I wouldn't use atmospheric ones as they lose lots of heat from their base areas (and AFUE does NOT penalize them for that, which is absurd). Also they burn with more excess air which just sends heat up the chimney. A wet-base boiler with a power gas burner will do much better.

The main house will end up with a small-commercial size boiler such as a Burnham V9, Smith 19A, W-M 80 series or similar boiler. For the smaller zone, I'd use a 3-section Smith G-8 (rated 283 square feet max, downfired slightly for this job), as far as I know this is the only wet-base residential steamer in that size approved for use with a power gas burner (Carlin EZ-Gas). You could also run an indirect hot-water heater off this little boiler with good results.

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