To Be Or Not To Be

New England SteamWorks · August 2018

An appropriate title I should think for an old theatre. The steam and it's boiler have been long gone. The seating area was converted to hot water. But the stage and the dressing rooms beneath the stage were not, and have no heat at all.

Complicating matters is that the boiler room is in the front of the theatre, and of course the stage and dressing rooms are at the back. Not a whole lot of EDR for the stage and dressing rooms by themselves, but twice as much to get the steam there from the front 2 * (4" pipe * 150').

So the question is: Is there to be steam heat once again? Or is steam heat not to be?

Stay tuned...

Steamhead · August 2018

Hoffman Vapor. That should be a no-brainer- fix the steam.

DanHolohan · August 2018

A cakewalk for you.

Fred · September 2018

Easy answer: "tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them" Let there be Steam!

Jamie Hall · September 2018

Agreed. And since you are known to know what you are doing, it shouldn't be that hard! The only comment I would make is... insulate the dickens out of the supply mains. Also... does it still have the crossover traps? And if not, can they be replaced and all other vents closed except the main vents on the return? If so, I would very seriously consider -- despite the expense -- using Hoffman 76s. Granted that they are slower than say a Gorton would be, never mind a BigMouth, and they certainly aren't cheap -- but they will allow the system (if you get rid of leaks!) to pull a substantial vacuum between boiler runs, which may help in getting steam to the backstage area more evenly.