Home Owner with Steam

Dave Ewald

I have a well worn copy ot the Lost Art of Steam Heating, which I really enjoy reading. I have a one pipe steam system with an old Burnham Jubilee boiler, no header, no equalizer, no hartford loop, no main vents, undersized pipes, large radiators in small rooms, small radiators in large rooms, and risers going up about 6 inches in front of the windows.
There's about 400 sq. ft. of EDR in radiators alone and I think about 100,000 BTU boiler capacity. I can afford to heat the place as is, and I do sleep through the water hammer usually. Should I leave well enough alone? The system looks like it was put together by a clueless person, but I'm afraid if I touch it with a pipe wrench it will fall apart.

Now a couple of elementary questions: what is used, galvanized or black iron pipes and fittings? Other than spitting valves, is there any reason not to use really fast vents on all the radiators?

Steamhead

Start with a basic principle

"Spend money to save money".

It sounds like you're gonna have to put some work into this system, so the first money you spend should be for items that will lower your fuel usage, such as:

1. Main Vents- these will speed up the steam distribution and shorten the burner run-time needed per cycle. Measure the length and diameter of your mains and we'll tell you what you need.

2. Pipe Insulation- will keep steam from condensing in the pipes before it reaches the radiators. This will also shorten the burner's run-time.

3. Heat-Loss Calculation- to compare the existing radiation with the job it has to do. You may be able to shift radiators around to different locations to match them to the heating load. This also may cure some undersized-pipe problems.

The best time to change the piping around that older boiler may be when it's time to replace the boiler. I think the Jubilee dates back 50 years or so (If you post the model and serial number here, Glenn Stanton of Burnham can probably tell you exactly when it was made). That said, we've repiped some older boilers with good results. Here's an older Burnham V-34 we did a couple years ago.

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Dave Ewald

Thanks for the advice. It's a Jubilee model 230. This is from a difficult-to-read metal label which had printing which is almost completely illegible and a few stamped numbers that are perfectly clear. There are two mains, 1 1/2" diameter. One is about 22' long and straight, the other is about 3' long with a couple of 90 degree elbows.

Another thing I don't have is an automatic water feeder. I've drained the boiler and refilled it at the beginning of the heating season, but I didn't add any chemicals or see how to do so. At least I have a functioning low water cutoff.