steam expansion vs. hot water

jonnyL

Hi,



I have a general question that I see comes up a lot. I'm designing an addition on a 1910s house in Massachusetts. It has steam heating that works quite well. I don't know right now if the system is 1 or 2 pipe or the boiler stats but can find out. The addition involves a large kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor and a large bedroom and bathroom on the floor above. Obviously this end of the house will require additional heating. So the question is: what are my options for adding heating and what is recommended/easier/most cost effective. I'm getting conflicting opinions on whether it's possible or easier to add new steam radiators and their corresponding lines to the existing system, or if its better to tap into the existing boiler and add hot water lines - a hybrid system. Obviously I want to avoid converting the whole system to hot water, and the load I can add to the existing boiler depends on the EDR. So...what's the best way to heat the new rooms? Thanks!



Jon

Steamhead

If at all possible

do it with steam. This will avoid a lot of unnecessary complication. We've done it and it worked well.



I had posted about this on the former version of the Wall, but the thread lost its pics in the transition to this version. Here it is, text-only:



http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/120896/Steam-Boiler-Replacement-Added-Radiators-All-Steamed-Up-Inc



Tell us more about the system. Better yet, take some pics and post them here.



Where is the job located?