cast iron radiator heat output calculations

Greg_4

I found in the office, a page from an old book (photocopied- possible copyright violations not withstanding) that gives some stats for calculating heating output for various radiators. However, things do not seem to add up, so I must be missing information or not interpreting the data correctly. Case in point- single pipe steam, heat loss calc of 84MBtu. House heats 'nicely' per owner. Boiler is a genuine antique, forgot nameplate, converted to Natural Gas from coal by deadmen. Owner wants to replace the boiler, tired of having it worked on every year, enormous gas bills (I think I could heat my home from the pilot alone!), etc. It's output is 180 MBtu. I measured the radiators and the 'chart' from the 'boiler book' mentioned earlier shows me these rad's will add up to around 35 MBtu outputs (240 Btu/ sq. ft. of radiator at 1 psi steam, 70 deg. F ambiant air temp...) How can these rad's heat the house 'nicely' if the heatloss is 84,000 Btu., boiler input is 180,000 Btu, but God only knows what the efficiency is! Does anyone have a simple, accurate way to calc. radiators? For example, one rad is 19 sections, 10.5" x 20", seven tubes/ section. Thanks, guys. Greg

Bill NTSG

Try this

One of Dan's books. Hope this works

Bill NTSG

Try this

One of Dan's books http://www.heatinghelp.com/shopcart/product.cfm?category=2-59's books. [Hope this works]cut & paste link

Bill NTSG

Or this

http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=21

Steamhead

The old boiler is probably oversized

the Dead Men often did this to increase the amout of coal you could pack into the firebox, so the owner wouldnt have to shovel coal so often.

Get Dan's EDR book to determing how much radiation you have, and size your new boiler from that. If you run into anything screwy, we'll be here to help.

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

Greg_4

Thanks

Thanks for the direction - looks like a book order is about
to happen. Don't have enough of Dan's books yet anyway. The boiler is definitely oversized and absolutely inefficient, radiators 'may' be sized OK, per homeowner's statements of heating comfort, but I still want to be sure we're sized OK in the rad's, piping and boiler. Not too much steam heating in our area, especially residential applications, this is one of the first steam applications for me. Greg

Steamhead

You're gonna get hooked

on Steam. Don't fight it, just let it happen. Then Dan H, Noel, Mad Dog, myself and any other Steam enthusiasts I forgot to mention will welcome you to the club!

Seriously, once you get into Steam you'll be much more valuable to your customers. A lot of the interesting heating problems I run into occur on Steam and Vapor systems. There seem to be lots of contractors who won't work on Steam- so guess who will get the jobs?

Your Steam library should include: "The Lost Art of Steam Heating", "The Lost Art of Steam Heating Companion", "EDR", and the "Dead Men's Steam School" video and workbook. All are available on the Books and More page of this site. The video lets you see Dan in action, which by itself justifies buying it- and the workbook that comes with it has some charts you won't find anywhere else.

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"