Converting Steam system over to hot water.....

Rocky

Have a job, airport hanger, where they are using a 2.5 million btu steam boiler to heat a 44,500 ft. hanger. Want to can the steam boiler and go with 2 Buderus 515-10. However, would like to reuse the 4" steam main to carry hot water to respective mechanical rooms. Good idea? Bad idea? What should I look for as I am not real familiar with steam systems. Is it possible to clean up inside of piping, if not too bad, with some chemical cleaner? Also, would like to convert two massive steam unit heaters already in place to hot water. Again, any thing I should look for? We could save the owner alot of money in material and time if we didn't have to string 600 ft of 4" copper, or buy two 600,000 btu unit heaters.Is it even possible to convert steam unit heater to hot water? ANY info would be MUCH appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Rocky

Rocky

What should I be aware of if I want to reuse existing steam line

Have a job, airport hanger, where they are using a 2.5 million btu steam boiler to heat a 44,500 ft. hanger. Want to can the steam boiler and go with 2 Buderus 515-10, or, 3 Buderus 315-9. However, would like to reuse the 4" steam main to carry hot water to respective mechanical rooms. Good idea? Bad idea? What should I look for as I am not real familiar with steam systems. Is it possible to clean up inside of piping, if not too bad, with some chemical cleaner? Also, would like to convert two massive steam unit heaters already in place over to hot water. Again, any thing I should look for? We could save the owner alot of money in material and time if we didn't have to string 600 ft of 4" copper, or buy two 600,000 btu unit heaters.Is it even possible to convert steam unit heater to hot water? ANY info would be MUCH appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Rocky

Unknown

steam to water

A couple quick thoughts....

That main will become MUCH heavier when you fill it with water. Be careful about hangers.

Fan coils sometimes put out MORE heat on water than on steam. Check the ratings. Check the pipe size feeding and, more importantly, RETURNING from the fan coils.

Good luck Rocky

Noel

Tony Conner

What's...

...wrong with the existing steam system?

Rocky

Existing system utilizes

great big steam heat exchangers to provide existing hot water baseboard and radiant heat. They are wanting the space these heat exchagers take up. Plus, they want better efficiency on boilers. They currently have a 10,000 gallon railroad tanker-car buried as their fuel tank.
The steam boiler is going away. It is not so much a question of whether to make the existing steam system retainable, as it is can I reuse existing steam lines for new hot water system? Again, I see just about zero steam systems in our neck of the woods and don't know if reutilizing steam lines for hot water is something that is just plain silly and is never done, or whether it is done under proper circumstances. What say ye?
Rocky

Unknown

If the pipe is good

and the right size, it can be used. Pressure test it first....