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First steam system like this I have seen in person.

michaelb0315
michaelb0315 Member Posts: 12
in Strictly Steam
Today I was working in a home in Upper Montclair NJ. I went to turn off the water main to the home and noticed this really cool steam heating system. The first picture is the wall hung radiators in the basement. The second is the steam floor vents? throughout the first floor. The third picture is, well to be honest with you I don't know lol. It looks like a miniature boiler suspended from the ceiling with an air vent. The fourth and final picture is the boiler that supplies the steam. The 2nd floor has free standing radiators and radiant heat produced from another boiler. I thought this system was pretty neat! Hopefully in the future we can give them a quote to replace that steam boiler!

Comments

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,261
    The "sections" are an old indirect heating system. Outside air is heated and rises upstairs. You can read all about it in Dan's excellent book "How Come".
    michaelb0315
  • michaelb0315
    michaelb0315 Member Posts: 12
    Thanks! I definitely will check it out. Another one of Dan's books that I can add to my shelf!
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    I think that the reason you haven't seen any like that one is because when it comes to the boiler, regular Steamheads don't replace and re-pipe steam boilers like that.

    It kind of looks like a Wethead thought he was piping a hot water boiler.

    Spend some quality time in the "Strictly Steam" Section of Heatinghelp.com.

    The lessons are free and the learning is invaluable.

    Too bad there aren't any before pictures to show what is now missing.
    michaelb0315
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,231
    EBEBRATT-Ed said:

    The "sections" are an old indirect heating system. Outside air is heated and rises upstairs. You can read all about it in Dan's excellent book "How Come".

    Outside air is brought in and heated.

    That must be awesome when it's really cold out. Bleeding noses?
    And I thought my RH was low due to drafts......
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • ChicagoCooperator
    ChicagoCooperator Member Posts: 363
    ChrisJ said:



    Outside air is brought in and heated.

    That must be awesome when it's really cold out. Bleeding noses?
    And I thought my RH was low due to drafts......

    Keep in mind they were paranoid about influenza and the like so fresh air intake was seen as a good thing (and frankly, it still is, just more controlled than this). But doesn't it look like it was just recirculated inside air (assuming that it wasn't at one time connected to a duct to the outside)?

    I was recently in a rather nice vintage condominium (1-pipe) and on their ground floor, in the main entrance lobby (at grade, what we refer to as an English Basment in Chicago) they had the upper and lower grills on the wall for something like this, with the nubbed radiator elements clearly visible through the upper grill - it looked like they were open to the storage on the other side which made me wonder if the system wasn't working properly. I assume the radiators were high due to a shallow boiler room (perhaps at grade) and didn't get an opportunity to inquire as to how it worked.
    michaelb0315

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