hot water zone on a steam system

Rock

I built an extension on my  house. The plumer was suposed to tap off the steam and put steam baseboard but  found out the floor was lower than the pipe he was going to tap off off and the steam pipe would not drain. He told me he could put a hot water zone on my system .He installed a new circulater and some valves and ran pex to the room. The room will have its own thermostat I wanted to finish the room before I call him back to finish the job. . I was thinking how will this work. If the new room calls for heat will the water be hot? Does the steam zone have to be going before my new hot water zone will make heat? I want this to be two separate zones. Please help.

Thanks

Mark N

Hot water loop

Look under systems, hot water, condensate hot water heating. Read that article and all your questions will be answered.

gerry gill

I hope this isn't going to be

just something slapped together..careful planning of this type of system needs to be done or you won't be comfortable..the boiler may or may not come on depending on whether the secondary zone is equipped to heat the water in the steam boiler to a point below boiling, or if its a 'slave' zone..we don't like slave zones due to potentially circulating cold water..with the subsequent angry phone call..but i see it all the time..i suspect that may be what your getting since he ran pex...also don't think thats a good idea unless the secondary loop has tempering controls to lower the water temperature a bit...i think you need to discuss with the install the complete design of this loop before advancing to far in construction where changes become expensive.

Long Beach Ed

As Gerry says...

The zone can be installed to operate several different ways.  It all depends on the design of the piping and controls. 



Some designs are cheaper and easier than others.  The easy cheap ways don't work as well as the harder and more expensive ways (Isn't that a surprise).



Ask or plumber those questions.  Will the hot water zone heat if the rest of the house hasn't called for heat that day?  How hot will the water be in the zone?  Will the boiler constantly be maintaining temperature? 



As they say, "the devil is in the details".   Adding a hot water zone to a steam boiler encompasses many details.