Old American Standard went down need recommendations

Eric Olson

Hello everyone, I have really enjoyed reading this forum to help me maintain the old American Standard furnace in my 1910 Victorian (cold and drafty) home in MD. I attached pictures of the old furnace so you guys could see what I have been working with. I love steam heat and dont want to change the method except I would like to go with natural gas. The specs on my old furnace are as follows:



Steam 15psi

Water 30psi

Series 2B J1

Gross Output Mbh 148

Net Steam Sq ft 463

Firing rate gall per hour 1.35



Everyone who has worked on it stated it was a little small for the job it was performing so I know it needs to be bigger. Any recommendations on the the following:



Brand

Size

Suggested Contractor



Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Eric (cold in MD)

Steamhead

What happened

to make the old boiler "go down"?



As for a nice, efficient gas-fired replacement, one of these Intrepid/EZ-Gas units will do very nicely. We have several running in Baltimore:

jpf321

how did they come to ....

these "people" you mention that want you to get a bigger boiler .. how did they come to that decision?



1) house sq ft?

2) others in your neighborhood/other customers of theirs with similar houses?

3) walk around and count the rads in the house? (1,2,3,4....)

4) heat loss calculation?

5) walk around and measure the rads in Height, Width, Sections, Depth and use a chart to figure out the "sq ft of EDR" of each radiator and add them all together to compile your "system connected EDR load"? and also measure the length and diameter of all your basement "steam main" piping?



unless they did #5, they were talking out of their behind. the only way to size a steam boiler is based on connected EDR .. and the only way to attain connected EDR is to spend quality time with each and every rad more that standing at the doorway of the room and guessing at it's size.



this does not state that the connected EDR is properly installed for your house .. you could need more rads or fewer rads (or bigger or smaller rads) .. but the boiler is only concerned with the EDR sq ft (in your case 463) installed.



let us know....



and if you are in Steamhead's service area, save yourself time and trouble and simply call him and write a check .. it should be a no-brainer, that's how good he is. http://www.heatinghelp.com/professional/79/All-Steamed-Up-Inc

Eric Olson

More info

Here are pictures from the top and back of my old boiler as well as shots from a radiator and its vent. It does look like I will not need a bigger boiler as the contractors I had dealt with in years past didn't know what he was talking about. I had a great talk with Steamhead and it appears that my system was never vented properly.



Eric

Steamhead

That looks like

an American "Rococo" radiator. These things look great when stripped and repainted!



The small air vent is probably a Dole 1933.



What size steam pipe is coming up from the boiler? Looks like it might be 3-inch......

Eric Olson

sorry so long

The mains are roughly 3" outer diameter. This remains constant through the loop until really close to radiators where it drops to roughly 1 1/2 - 2". After looking close at the system there are definitely no main vents on thee whole system. I am working on making a diagram.

Steamhead

How long is your steam main

from the boiler steam outlet to the drop at the boiler where it returns??

Eric Olson

Sizing

Steamhead,

I explained this incorrectly, The pipe sizing is 3" from boiler to the headers then gets downsized to 2" at the mains. Then the small runs to the radiators drops to 1 1/2". I tried to call you yesterday but I am sure you are busy catching up after all the snow!

Eric

Steamhead

OK

So how long are the 2" sections?