Steam or Hot water heat

mp1969

My daughter and son-in-law have a 45 year old Kewaunee steam boiler in their house that is on life support. The oil fired boiler also has it's original buried oil tank located about fifteen feet from the well casing.
I worked with an engineering firm that designed a hydronic system for several large buildings utilizing the existing steam and condensate piping to convert it to a hydronic system. I realize you have to eliminate the traps or at least the insides and allow for the restrictions when pump sizing. I did not get the job mentioned above so I have no track record on performance or negatives.
Any input from the practitioners????

Thanks
MP 1969

DanHolohan

Have you seen

this?

Steam to Hot Water

Steamhead

Oil Tank 15 feet from the well?

Unbelievable! What were they thinking?

As far as the system goes, I've found it's much easier, less intrusive, less expensive and more trouble-free to install a new steam boiler and fix whatever glitches the system has, than to try to convert it. This is especially significant since they have to deal with that misplaced buried tank.

The article Dan mentioned lists some of the many pitfalls of such a conversion.

If the system is 2-pipe with traps, it's probably a Vapor system. Vapor was the Cadillac of heating in its day and is still one of the best systems out there. Have you located any manufacturer's info on the system components that would help us identify it?


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