Could use help figuring out what this is

Patriot21

Hello,
 
I have a one pipe steam system (oil fired). There are 3 radiators fed from this boiler. I am doing a bathroom renovation, upon tearing up the old floor I came across this (picture attached). I saw it from up top, but went down cellar to take the picture. I believe this is where a radiator used to come up but has since been capped off. Can anyone with more experience please look at the picture and provide insight? If it is possible to pipe a radiator back into this at this location it would be great. Thank you for your time!

ethicalpaul

Just three radiators for an entire boiler? Are they massively large? That would make me think that many radiators were removed.

I can't see enough of the pipe below to know for sure, but it looks like a steam riser off of a main and if so then almost certainly you could reattach it to a radiator. Is it cold in that bathroom / part of the residence?

Many old homes are over-radiated and have had radiators removed. Even my small 1200 sf house has had 2 or three radiators removed (I found vestiges of the supply piping like you did)

Patriot21

Hello,

Thank you for your response. The current radiators (length by height) are 50x38, 24x38 and 36x22. This is a house built in 1820 in Vermont, 1000 square feet. These three radiators keep the house plenty warm (except the current bathroom, where there is no radiator). I am making the bathroom bigger, to fit in a current radiator. This might change my plan, perhaps make the bathroom slightly smaller than I was planning, and add a small radiator where there could have possibly been one before. 

Patriot21

This is a picture from below if it helps. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

No reason you can't add a radiator there. Is this one pipe steam or two pipe steam?

The reason I ask is that one pipe steam the take offs usually come off the pipe at a 45.

Also that looks like it could be the end of the steam main, is it?

ethicalpaul

OK so a nice small house, cool. I'm curious...what is the net sq ft of steam rating on the boiler's rating panel (if it's still there/visible)?

Patriot21

This is a one pipe system, with one more radiator after this area. 

I attach a picture of the rating panel.

Thank you guys so much

ethicalpaul

OK that is a massive boiler for 3 radiators in a small house!

For comparison, my 1200sf house has 7 radiators adding up to about 200 sq ft of radiation. Your boiler is sized for three times that much (the "STEAM 608 SQ. FT." rating).

How does it run? Does it cycle on high pressure a lot?

So at least we know that your boiler can handle the additional load

AdmiralYoda

It may be beneficial to calculate the EDR of your radiators. A bit weird at first glance but it's actually very easy. If you google "How to calculate radiator EDR", the first couple links will give you a good worksheet.

ethicalpaul

So that he can figure out if he is 330% oversized vs 310% ?

AdmiralYoda

@ethicalpaul its likely grossly oversized but we don't know the whole picture. It is an 1820 house in Vermont somewhere. When those radiators were installed the house could have leaked like a sieve with zero insulation and 100 year old windows. Maybe its on a windy side of a mountain with a design temp of -15F, who knows.

I'm probably over exaggerating but it's in my nature not to leave any variables undefined. Plus I'm really curious if its 200% or 500% oversized. That's one biiiiiiiiiig boiler.

Big Ed_4

Yep ,three radiators and 150k boiler "I never had trouble "