Smaller Steam

James Day_2

I don't know much about steam.  I have a customer that wants to remove the steam from the third floor of his rental building.  The existing boiler is just about in needs of replacing.  Is it Possible to remove the 3rd floor rads and install a smaller steamer without changing any of the existing pipes.  It is a pipe system. 



Thanks, James 

JK_3

"it depends"

If all of the rads on the third floor are feed seperatly from the basement up, then you could potentially remove those branches from yhe main in the basement , install a new steam boiler for the amount of steam needed for those rads and run a seperate main and return. If, if and if.

jpf321

does he need the space ...

does he need the space that the rads are occupying or does he just want to not provide heat to that floor...i guess the question really is why not simply turn them off? either by plugging the vent hole or by installing a TRV set on 0? or an 1/8" valve onthe vent tapping?



or does he just want them gone?



if you remove the rad, this removes that much EDR load so you can adjust the boiler size accordingly and you can simply cap the pipe on the floor .. that riser pipe will not heat if capped or if rad turned off.



HTH

JK_3

after rereading

 after reading the post again  I think maybe you are right. I first thought he wanted to seperate not eliminate

JK_3

after rereading

 after reading the post again  I think maybe you are right. I first thought he wanted to seperate not eliminate

James Day_2

steam

He wants to eliminate the rads on the third floor completely.  Wasn't sure if I could just remove them and cap the lines.  Install a smaller boiler to match the new edr.  Wasn't sure if the existing mains would be sufficient or would i run into problems with the size of them. existing boiler is 410,000btu output. Didn't measure the EDR on the rads yet.       Thanks, James

furnacefigher15

I would

Keep the removed radiators in the calculation to for the new boiler. You don't know if this owner, or the next one may want to add them back later. Also you will still need to account for the pick up load of the old risers.



I'm guessing you talking about 1 or 2 radiators. If you talking about a whole bunch, that may be different.

Long Beach Ed

Too Many

If the size of the system is reduced considerably (say be removing 1/3 of the radiators) the replacement boiler would have to be downsized.  If only one or two radiators were removed or turned off, you could probably use the same boiler with no ill effects.



Yes, you can disconnect the pipes or cap them.  Whatever iron is hanging on the system will require some steam to heat as it will continue getting and condensing steam.  For the best efficiency, remove any pipe not being used, cap what remains and size the boiler to the connected load plus a 20% - 50% pick up factor.  



If you just turn of the radiator valves on the third floor and install a smaller boiler, it won't be long before someone turns them on again you get that phone call that the work you did isn't heating the building...