Resurrecting single pipe steam system

zoom

1860 midwest house. Heated with hot air furnace. Two abondend steam boilers in the basement. Single pipe steam radiators throughout house seem to be in good condition. Is it worth getting the old boilers out and putting in a new steam boiler to get the old radiators working again? Clearly the house already has heat, but the old radiators have a ton of character.

109A_5

What is wrong with the old boilers ?

Worth ? Only you can answer that. It would be an expense to replace two boilers when you have heat. Some folks really enjoy steam heat compared to forced air. For example, it is so quiet when it works correctly.

Steamhead

@zoom, how about posting some pics?

EBEBRATT-Ed

Where in the Midwest are you?

If you have a lot of cold weather, you would like steam heat. If AC is more important you would like the air. But you could keep the steam for heat and the ducts for cooling.

The problem may be in your area few boilers exist and no one with experience working on them.

Those of us in the NE don't realize that the country as a whole is mostly ducted heat.

You probably have asbestos removal in your future one way or another.

dabrakeman

I think there is plenty of steam in the Midwest depending upon your exact location. Sounds like an unfortunate "modernization" someone got talked into in the past because their HVAC guy didn't know steam.

EdTheHeaterMan

Today, of all days, is the best day for a Resurrection Project!

Happy Easter!

leonz

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/204195/resurrecting-single-pipe-steam-system

Was this home a 2 family home at one time? I bet it was.

Are one or both of these steam boilers snow men coal fired boilers converted to oil?? You probably have 2 coal rooms or one very large coal room for both hand fed boilers.

The home can benefit from using a single coal fired stoker steam boiler using inexpensive Western Sub Bituminous Coal to make steam and hot water with one stoker boiler with new steam controls, a Hartford loop and plumbed with a double drop header and new vents.

The header pipes in the basement and ALL the radiators would need to be checked for level to make sure they drain back to the boiler.

The issue is asbestos removal as I am sure they were coated with it. You could install a new coal fired stoker steam boiler with new plumbing to the existing mains and save money to spend on removal of the boilers and the asbestos at a later date.

109A_5

If you actually don't need two independent boilers, it may be more practice to install one larger properly sized boiler fueled by the same fuel as the forced air.