Stay with steam or go hydronic

lightweight

My old steam boiler finally died. Was an unknown mfg/size, 3 pass, all welded steel that held at least 35 gal of water. A work of art compared to a sectioned boiler.System is a one pipe with 9 convectors, only 8 right now due to kitchen remodel but hope to re-pipe in future.Had a heat loss and steam system size done. My house is small (1400 sqft incl basement)Heat loss around 50 kbtu and steam sys size around 333 sqft steam.I like the Burnham megasteam boiler and the 396 was recommended. My old boiler has a .80 nozzle in it and the Burnham has a 1.05 size. Would this kind of be a wash with boilers. Smaller size nozzle but inefficient boiler vs larger nozzle but efficient boiler. It seems like the steam system is very large for the house and would it pay to replace with a much smaller hydronic system closer to the heat loss. I know the hydronic has a much more complicated delivery of the heat but has more control. (Zoning and outdoor reset.) I would also like to heat the basement since any new boiler, (steam or hydronic) will no longer heat it like my old boiler. Heating basement more difficult with steam and also thinking of switching to an indirect hot water tank vs the old direct fired I have right now. Also not sure if this upgrade is worth it too. I'm not trying to start a steam vs hydronic debate just looking for some good advice before making decision,

BobC

FHW vs steam

Changing over to FHW from steam may be more complex than you think. The old pipes and radiators may not be able to take the higher pressure that a hot water system works at.



If you do have to repipe and replace the convectors it's going to get pretty expensive. You said the house is about 1,400 sq ft and you have 333 sq ft of radiators. You might want to double check that figure because that sounds like a lot compared to my 1,200 sq ft house with 190 sq ft of radiation. I'm just south of Boston and about a block from the ocean so it gets pretty chilly here.



With steam you could take a loop and heat a FHW zone in the basement from the steam boiler. I would carefully compare the costs of each option so you don't end up with any surprises half way through the job.



good luck,

David Nadle

Two things

Two things maybe in favor of keeping steam: (1) You can quasi-zone one pipe steam easily by adding TRVs to radiators the warmer rooms, perhaps the 2nd floor. (2) Tekmar makes an outdoor reset for steam.