Basement Warmer after Insulating Steam Pipes

holograham

My basement has now gotten measurably warmer (about 3 degrees average) after insulating my basement pipes. Is this normal? This is after controlling for variables like system run time and outside temperature.

ethicalpaul

Something else is going on. There is nothing that could cause your basement to get warmer after insulating the steam pipes if that's all that was changed.

I guess it could be something weird such as the pipes were creating heat that was seen by a thermostat somewhere and now that thermostat is calling for heat more?

Is there a water loop in the basement?

holograham

ethicalpaul said:

Something else is going on. There is nothing that could cause your basement to get warmer after insulating the steam pipes if that's all that was changed.

I guess it could be something weird such as the pipes were creating heat that was seen by a thermostat somewhere and now that thermostat is calling for heat more?

Is there a water loop in the basement?

What do you mean by water loop? I have my main steam lines and my return lines for my 1 pipe steam system. I have insulated them both but now my temperature has spiked. Not even the coldest days of the year recently.

ethicalpaul

I mean a hot water loop running to radiators or convectors in the basement. I am just trying to see if there's any possible explanation for what you describe. Physics isn't providing one

dko

What are you using to measure?

holograham

ethicalpaul said:

I mean a hot water loop running to radiators or convectors in the basement. I am just trying to see if there's any possible explanation for what you describe. Physics isn't providing one

None that I know of

holograham

dko said:

What are you using to measure?

I have a wifi thermometer in the basement. Been tracking for months now. Just had insulation added and now seeing 80-82 temps in basement with outside temps 35 degrees. Previous high ever was 78 degrees on the most cold days with uninsulated pipes.

ethicalpaul

Well whatever is causing your basement to be warmer, it isn't insulating the steam pipes, don't worry about that

SgtMaj

It’s probably additional radiation from the boiler? IDK, but having the basement warmer just means that warm air makes its way to the next floor. So I’d say it’s a win!

Sylvain

if your boiler is consuming less, less fresh combustion air coming in the basement?

ChrisJ

Did you move the thermometer?

EBEBRATT-Ed

It's colder out and the boiler is on more often

holograham

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

It's colder out and the boiler is on more often

Its not over the period recorded. Min. temp was around 34 whereas we have had days in the 20's before.

holograham

Sylvain said:

if your boiler is consuming less, less fresh combustion air coming in the basement?

This may be an angle - my basement also has indirect radiators that have air intakes on the outside of the house. They are definitely leaky - less runtime means less cold air coming into basement.

holograham

ChrisJ said:

Did you move the thermometer?

No - thermometer in same position as last 6 months.

bburd

holograham said:

This may be an angle - my basement also has indirect radiators that have air intakes on the outside of the house. They are definitely leaky - less runtime means less cold air coming into basement.

You could save a great deal of fuel by closing those outside air intakes and converting the indirect radiators to draw air from inside the house. On most of those systems this was done decades ago.

holograham

bburd said:

holograham said:

Sylvain said:

This may be an angle - my basement also has indirect radiators that have air intakes on the outside of the house. They are definitely leaky - less runtime means less cold air coming into basement.

You could save a great deal of fuel by closing those outside air intakes and converting the indirect radiators to draw air from inside the house. On most of those systems this was done decades ago.

How would I do that? Not many folks have experience with this system. I have 5 pretty large ones on my first floor.

bburd

If you can post some pictures of the units, various views, we should be able to advise you. It's not difficult.

holograham

I have solved this one too - it turns out when I got my insulation done some previously open holes from my outside air ducts where mostly sealed up (I estimate about 75% of the previous air leaking into the basement was filled when the pipes had circulation wrapped around it.

Why? Well some of the steam pipes run through the ducts - who knows if that was orginal design or add on over the last 110 years. They cut a hole through these ducts which had a large hole that allowed cold air to pour into basement. Now those holes sealed by the 1 inch insulation around those pipes. This results in a much hotter basement. And yes the heat is on a bit more often now that the temps are colder.

Hap_Hazzard

Make sure the flue is venting to the outside. If exhaust gas is venting into your basement, it will definitely make it warmer. More humid too. But it's obviously not a good situation.

If that's not the problem, I'd suggest you walk aroun your basement with a non-contact thermometer or an IR camera, if you can get your hands on one, and look for hot spots. Another technique you can use is to go around with an incense stick and look for updrafts. I'd be very surprised if the heat is actually coming from the insulated pipes.

holograham

Hap_Hazzard said:

Make sure the flue is venting to the outside. If exhaust gas is venting into your basement, it will definitely make it warmer. More humid too. But it's obviously not a good situation.

If that's not the problem, I'd suggest you walk aroun your basement with a non-contact thermometer or an IR camera, if you can get your hands on one, and look for hot spots. Another technique you can use is to go around with an incense stick and look for updrafts. I'd be very surprised if the heat is actually coming from the insulated pipes.

I did just that (walked around with IR camera) and found the area that was sealed up by the insulated pipes. See my above comment.