Need new Boiler or heating system..? Recomendations...

John_105

<strong>I have a two family house in Somerville ma and we live in the 2nd floor which has a steam gas boiler that heats about 900 square feet of house.  We had a home assessment and we were told that the  boiler for our unit was not efficient at all.  What kind of boiler should we get for about 1100 square feet?  Should we consider other options?  If we add AC is there something </strong>that might be better than steam heat?



Or should we stick with the steam heat since we already have the infrastructure of pipes and radiators? 



Are there any steam boilers that are designed to work for only 900- 1000 square feet of space? What are the best models to get?



Thanks in Advanced...



John

TomM

"at all"

"our unit was not efficient at all"

efficiency is quantitative.  What are the numbers?  A boiler replacement is an equation of many factors other than efficiency.

-

For example, my 1988 7.4L chevy suburban gets about 10 MPG, but that does not mean that I should scrap it and buy a new truck.  It runs great and I don't commute very far.  It sits nine comfortably and looks and sounds pretty mean.  I could tow a modular home if I needed to.   

-

 In the economics of replacement, many and all factors should be considered.

-here's a good book:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Books/5/68/Lost-Art-Of-Steam-Heating

John_105

exactlyl, I get all that

I will check the packet they gave us during the NSTAR free home evaluations to see. but basically they said we could save a lot of money on our heating bills with a new gas furnace.  Some months we paid a few hundred dollars to heat 1100 square feet.   Also, the burner tank needs to have water added to it every few days. Do the newer burners automatically add water?



Assuming that we could save  500 to 1000 a year on our gas bill with a more efficient model.., then  What should we look at it to heat 900 to 1000 square feet??



 

Rod

New Boiler

Hi John- First of all most home assessment outfits have no clue about steam heating.

I went through something similar situation as yours several years ago and it was "recommended" that I get rid of my "old out dated inefficient steam system". In my case it would have been a huge mistake. In your case, well, that depends.  Most steam systems are inefficient because they have been neglected over the years or have been worked on by heating people who didn't understand steam.



If I understand you right, your building is split into two units and yours is the second floor. Where is your boiler located and what heats the lower unit? Another question would be how well does the present steam heating system heat your unit?   This question is important as replacement steam boiler are sized to the radiator load and not to square footage of the area heated.



Here's a couple of links on steam boiler replacement that might be of interest to you.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/11/Hot-Tech-Tips/234/Replacing-Your-Old-Steam-Boiler

http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/11/Hot-Tech-Tips/144/Boiler-Sizing



Most of the steam guys hang out in the "Strictly Steam " section on this board so you probably will get more responses posting your questions over there.

The big thing when replacing a steam boiler is you have to get a steam pro. Lots of heating  guys think they understand steam but few really do. It isn't that steam is all that hard it's just that it has a few simple rules you have to follow. It isn't just hooking up a few pipes. I guess this applies to any heating system. It doesn't matter how efficient the heat unit is if the heating guy doesn't install it properly.

There are several good books on steam available on this website. Tom mentioned "the Lost Art of Steam Heating" which is a very good book though  I think you may want to read a book called "We Got Steam Heat !" first as it is a good introduction to steam heating.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Books/5/61/We-Got-Steam-Heat-A-Homeowners-Guide-to-Peaceful-Coexistence

It's written for the homeowner and is easy reading and packed full of facts and pictures about residential steam heating. In a few evenings of reading you will be light years ahead in your knowledge of steam heating. You will then have a better understanding of steam and we can better answer your questions and you'll  in a much better position to decide which way you want to go.

- Rod

ScottMP

Steam

Theres a big difference between a steam system and and steam boiler. You may have an old inefficient steam boiler, that dosn't mean the whole system needs to be scrapped.

Now if you wanted A/C you could install a system such as a Unico and use a high efficieny gas boiler to provide heat to a coil that would do heat.

I perssonally like the old cast iron radiators, Some can be renovated to forced hot water but being on the second floor makes that tough.

You probably just need a new steam boiler and some pipe insulation.

We've had great luck with Crown Steam boilers. Again, any boiler can be poorly installed.

Scott

BobC

Excess water use

You stated that you have to add water to the boiler every couple of days.



That is a big red flag that something is wrong, a steam boiler should bot need water added more than a couple of times a month. Where is this water going - on the floor, out of the radiator vents, up the chimney?



this link will take you to an article that Dan Holohan wrote. Print it out and after you have read it hand it to whatever steam pro you choose. If he ignores it, consider getting another pro.   http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/95/Problems-that-plague-ALL-steam-heating-systems/85/The-system-is-losing-water



A boiler can be equipped with a automatic water feeder but they can be a mixed blessing because people don't monitor them to see how much water is being used.



Get a steam pro to asses the boiler and find out about the excess water uses. The top menu of this site has a "Find a Contractor", click on the Massachusetts link and you will find a list of cities. Use that to find someone in the area that knows steam.



Bob