How old is my system?

K104

Hello:

I have an US Radiator Corporation - The Capital Red Top system, size A8, serial 63250.  Can anyone tell me how old it is?  Also, I am new to steam and am unfamiliar with the glass fill tube on the right side of the unit!  Help!

Rod

Book on Steam Heating

Hi- It might help if you take some pictures of your boiler and post them here. Since you are new to steam you might also want to get a book called  "We Got Steam Heat!"which is a very good introduction on residential steam heating and is written for the homeowners. It's available in the "Shop" section at the top of this page. Here's a link to the book:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Steam-Heating-Books/25/61/We-Got-Steam-Heat-A-Homeowners-Guide-to-Peaceful-Coexistence

One of the pros should be able to tell you more about the age of your boiler,

- Rod

Steamhead

The Red Top

was an "all-fuels" cast-iron boiler of the "3-pass" design, where the flue gases traveled to the back of the firebox, rose and went to the front of the boiler, then reversed and went to the rear and out to the chimney. So they traveled the length of the boiler three times.



Unfortunately, the passages were rather large since the boiler had to be able to burn coal. So on oil or gas, often the heat would go right to the chimney without touching the cast-iron.



It's possible to baffle these flue passages, but your Red Top will never reach the efficiency of a modern steam boiler like the Burnham MegaSteam.



Do you have a one-pipe or two-pipe system? If there is only one pipe connected to each radiator, it's one-pipe.