Why set backs on steam may be an issue.

Charlie from wmass

As the air temp around an object, be it a pipe or a radiator lowers the effective radiation needs to be corrected. I was looking at a chart Burnham has and at 60 degrees it is a correction factor near 10%. Meaning your radiators grew 10% compared to when the air is 70 degrees. This means the boiler that was sized close is now small. If you have your home at 62 degrees the radiation condensing rate is 8% higher. So that 375 square feet acts like 403. The numbers are approximate. The thought I fell asleep with last night. I think I need to get a hobby! I hope the ice thaws early so I can go fishing.

Big-Al_2

The hole thing

Charlie:  In my neighborhood (right across the street from my house in fact) folks are pulling up some big northern pike through holes in the ice.  I'm a bit of a fair weather fisherman myself, but at least there are no mosquitoes around in January . . . maybe less of a problen in Mass. than Wis. . . . 

Now if I could run a steam line over to an ice shanty, maybe I'd be out there. At zero degrees out, that radiator would grow a bit, eh?

Charlie from wmass

No ice for me

I leave walking on water to those a bit holier than me.

Jamie Hall

Would you believe

I actually had a steam radiator freeze?  The condensate froze in the trap...  it was a situation not unlike what you were describing, Charles -- for reasons best left unexplored, I had the dubious pleasure of trying to open this ark of mine one February day; both interior and exterior temperatures below freezing, and the place had been closed for the winter.  As I recall, it took the better part of 24 hours, with the boiler (the original H.B. Smith) running constantly (no shut off on pressure that day!) to get up to about 60...  All of which illustrates your point about radiators that grow in the cold!  (on the other hand, the same phenomenon explains why, to a certain extent, steam systems are self balancing -- the colder the room, the more heat the radiator will put out).



We do not have mosquitoes anything like the mosquitoes of the north woods.  Ours are very pleasant little critters, by comparison.  Of course, black fly season in the woods is another story...



Never could see ice fishing.  I get too cold too fast.  On the other hand, it's good for a laugh when someone's pickup goes through a soft spot in the ice!

Dave in QCA

Remote location for traps

Jamie, interesting that you had a trap actually freeze up! 

The Best mansion apartments has a 2 story sunporch at the side. There is a steam radiator on each floor.  Since it was assumed that it might be heated, or not, at the owner's discretion, the steam traps were not located at the outlet of the radiators.  Instead, the return lines ran down to the boiler room, and the traps were remotely located there.  Additional safety measures included a shut-off valve for both the steam supply and the return, also located in the boiler room.

 There was a thread a while ago entitled "The Best Heating System"   There is a picture of the remotely located Hoffman #2 traps.

D