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Starting a VERY cold house in steam

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Jamie Hall
Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,404
in THE MAIN WALL
We are faced with the problem of a very cold house (22 F -- well below freezing inside) with a vapour steam heat system (no, the system didn't fail; it just wasn't turned on). Now we want to turn it on. Anyone tried this? Will the condensate freeze in the traps and dry returns before the house temperature rises enough? The basement is above freezing (just) so we're not worried about the wet returns or the boiler...

Thoughts, anyone?
Jamie
Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England

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  • zeb_3
    zeb_3 Member Posts: 104
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    Temp. Heat

    Get temporary heat in there.( portable salamanders )Warm the building up before you fire up the boiler
  • ta finnegan
    ta finnegan Member Posts: 121
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    Questions.

    Are the walls that the risers travel through insulated, and how about the pipes in the basement?

    Once it fires the boiler and piping will warm the boiler room to the point where you do not need to worry about the condensate freezing in the returns. But further up could be an issue.

    Some ambient heat from an external source in the rooms could be good but 22 degrees?!?!?! Are the radiators iced over??

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  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,404
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    22 is a bit chilly...

    all of the risers run exposed in rooms, not in the walls (the steam system was put in after the house was built; the original heat was a gravity, coal fired, scorched air system which is not usable any more -- rusted out firebox -- and which was a real bear to get to circulate when it was dead cold). Pipes in the basement are sort of insulated (some of the insulation has fallen) but that will be straightened out in time. There are no returns (wet or dry) above the basement level. Basement is above freezing, if only just -- it's just the traps we're really concerned about, and the possibility of condensate in the bottom of radiators freezing before the radiator warms up enough...

    We are considering using electric temporary heat -- a lot of it -- but would rather not if we can help it. Salamanders or open combustion heaters of any kind are out of the question -- fire hazard.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Steve Ebels
    Steve Ebels Member Posts: 904
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    See if you can

    Scrouge up an old furnace of some kind. You don't have to connect it to any duct work, just let it blow in the basement. Connect it to the chimney and just let it run with the basement door open to the upstairs for a couple days. It'll heat the place up just fine. You're using the natural bouancy of the hot air to perc up through the rest of the house. I keep 3-4 of 'em around just for heating during the grungy phases of new construction. Works great.
  • scott price
    scott price Member Posts: 3
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    I might look at remmoving the trap guts and let every thing come back. good time to inspect the traps. I keep 2 old heat pump ahu's around just to use as temp heat when open flame is a no no
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