does the steam boiler size seem off?

bbillcee

i didnt do a full hardcore sizing process that ive seen on the site but would just like a general idea if my steam boiler seems to large. i know you guys cant tell me for sure. I got it replaced in 2006. i originally had a giant weil McClain that was from the early 40's. They said they were putting an EG 50 but i think they even went bigger with a 55. i only assume this because i read it had a 3 inch header and the boiler they put in had a 3 inch vs 2.5 inch. (there is no check mark on 50 or 55 on boiler sticker) The boiler also has a coil.(no longer used) The house is 1700 sq foot 2 story brick house built in late 30's early 40's. no insulation with 15 small/medium radiators.

pecmsg

get the EDR of all the radiators and size to that.

EBEBRATT-Ed

No way to tell without more information. For steam the heat loss of the building is a secondary concern. You need to calculate the EDR (or square feet of steam your radiators will absorb). This is easy to do. You measure the height , width and depth of each radiator and count how many section the rad has. Do this for every rad in the system.

The charts for calculating this is in this site.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Burnham Heating Helper .pdf

Here is the Burnham heating helper it has charts starting on PG 41??

Once you calculate the total radiation load in EDR (or sq feet of steam) look at your boiler name plate and look for the square feet of steam rating. Do not look at BTUs or any other information.

Then report back what you have found

bbillcee

thanx guys ….before i go through that …lets just say they could've used an EG40 or 45…..how much of a big deal would it be its not sized right? would it be wasting so much gas that it should be replaced? i dont want to make problem where there isn't one….the boiler been in for almost 20 years and has worked well

EBEBRATT-Ed

Lets see how the boiler size relates to the radiation load first. I wouldn't toss a boiler because it is oversized.

109A_5

Hello bbillcee,

Not sure what your actual agenda is. As others have stated I would do an EDR survey then you know for sure. The only difference I see between a EG 50 and a EG 55 is probably the burner since the boiler's weight is the same. With a larger burner the steam velocity may be higher so the need for the larger header, however the installer may have just went with the larger header anyway to be on the safe side. Another tell tail sign of an oversized boiler is does it build excessive pressure ? With a closely matched boiler to the EDR the radiators will dissipate all the boiler has to give, so no significant pressure increase. With 15 radiators the size may not be too far off, but that is just a guess.

ChrisJ

You can tell the difference between a 50 and a 55 by counting the burner tubes.

Another way is by looking at the drafthood.

Can you show us pictures of the boiler, and the piping around it?

pecmsg

it really doesn’t matter what the existing boilers size is.
it needs to match the EDR of the building.

bbillcee

lol this all started because i was watching a youtube video of a guy working on a steam boiler and he was said it was an EG 50 and he was telling the customer it was grossly oversized and very inefficient.lol the house looked just like mine and size and all so it got my wheels turning 😂

ChrisJ

Looks like 200K input to me which is a 55.