Cold Basement

Rob_40

After removing the asbestos on my one pipe system and replacing the gas converted coal boiler, and reinsulating my pipes with fiberglass. (Excuse me while I scratch my arms.)   I have an uncomfortably cool basement.  I guess I should remove some insulation?   Any thoughts and experiences with warming up a basement that doesnt have its own radiator?

SWEI

condensate pipes

Did you insulate the condensate piping?

Paul S_3

basement

maybe because your old boiler was alot bigger and held alot more heat, which heated your basement a little......you can run a zone in your basement with copper baseboard using the condensate from the steam boiler...

            paul s

Hap_Hazzard

Don't remove the insulation.

If the steam pipes are radiating heat, they're condensing steam that's bound for your radiators, so you'll be less comfy. Instead, use the leftover heat that's left in the condensate after the radiators are through with it.



Okay, if you put insulation on your returns you can take that off. If that doesn't give you enough heat, would it be feasible to replace some of your return pipe with a length of fin-tube convector? Normally a fin-tube convector isn't as nice as a radiator because it's less massive and doesn't stay hot as long, but you fill them with slow moving hot water, they'll keep giving off heat for a long time.



But the best part is that this doesn't add additional EDR load to your boiler. You're not using steam. You're taking advantage of the pickup factor. It will take a little longer for the boiler to make steam at the beginning of each cycle, but you probably won't notice.

kcopp

insulate your

walls. Either w./ some blue board foam or spray foam the top 36"... well worth the money.

Rob_40

Yep, I insulated the condensate return.

I guess I will removed the insulation on the pipe below the water line.  The original asbestos had the pipe bare.  But I thought it would conserve energy to cover the return pipe.  So, I will strip the return pipe and see if it warms up enough.  There are other issues with heat in the basement.  The sill plate and rim  joists are very drafty.

BobC

Outside air and drafts

When i moved into this palace in '81 I had a big 1947 Delco steam boiler that kept the cellar at about 60 because of it's size and the fact the pipes were naked. I also had many drafts from the sill plate area.



Now my boiler is 1/3 the size all the pipes are insulated and the cellar is 48. The front of my foundation is exposed 4-5 feet so my situation is probably different than yours. One thing you will find is as you fix the air leaks in the cellar the house will get drafty because the combustion air has to come from somewhere.



When you tighten things up make provisions to bring in combustion air from the outside and a lot of your draft problems will be gone. Then if you add that baseboard and insulation you will be all set.



Bob

Steve_175

Spray foam your rim joist

DIY it will help a lot.



http://www.sprayfoamdirect.com/



http://www.tigerfoam.com/index.php



http://www.rhhfoamsystems.com/