Switch from steam to hot water radiators? HELP

broken_furnace

Hi all - I am a homeowner with a broken steam boiler. I was hoping for some advice on whether or not to convert my steam heat to hot water heat. Pros? Cons? Please help asap as I will need to make a decision by tomorrow. Thanks!!

heatman101

Details...

Is it one pipe steam or 2???

Oil, NG, LPG, or what fuel??

How large of an area are you heating??

What condition are the existing pies in???

Just a few things I can think of off the top of my head....

Generally speaking, I would stay with steam.....but that depends....

MTC

If you haven't already made your decision...

I think the biggest determining factor for me would be if the system can hold pressure. Steam operates at generally under 1PSI, or at most in a properly running system, 2PSI. Water runs more in the 12-20PSI range, possibly getting up to 30PSI. An old steam system (which is open to the atmosphere, and sees more corrosion, etc b/c of that) might not be able to handle that pressure without leaking, even if it was working fine as a steam system.



If you don't have 2 pipe steam, you have no chance of a reasonable conversion.



For a smaller system, you'll never get the cost of conversion back. In a larger system, you might, but I in general will agree with heatman that you want to stay with steam if that's what you already have.

dpeart

this is a nice read

I have been looking into this as well, here is where you should start.



http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/350/Conversions/152/Converting-from-steam-to-hot-water-heat



dave