Interesting things to do with steam systems

RHT

All..
What do you steam people think of the following ideas..

1. to flush out steam pipe and convectors (not radiators) remove the air vent, hook up a hose and run it to a bucket. Run the boiler for a while and let steam push out crud/junk out of the pipes.


2. to get more heat from a radiator: put a fan on the radiator/convector. Fan blows more air, more air causes more steam to condence and intern more steam to be sucked into the radiator. This should cause more heat coming out and heating a particular part of the building better.

Any thoughts?

RHT

What do you think of these steam tricks...

All..
What do you steam people think of the following ideas..

1. to flush out steam pipe and convectors (not radiators) remove the air vent, hook up a hose and run it to a bucket. Run the boiler for a while and let steam push out crud/junk out of the pipes.


2. to get more heat from a radiator: put a fan on the radiator/convector. Fan blows more air, more air causes more steam to condence and in-turn more steam to be sucked into the radiator. This should cause more heat coming out and heating a particular part of the building better.

Any thoughts?

Steamhead

Flushing out

should be done in the opposite direction- from the convector down thru the system and out the drain in the return, with the system shut down. It's more effective and you get to flush the crud out of the return as well.

If a radiator isn't producing enough heat, a fan may be a temporary solution until you can find and fix the cause. But only temporarily- one of the advantages of steam is that it doesn't blow air around like scorched-air does.

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TGO_7

If they are convectors, why not just take them outside and flush them? As to the steam piping, the crud is mainly in the wet returns and the mud legs of the boiler. Mains don't normally build up dirt unless the system flooded.