to upgrade boiler or switch to hot water

Robert Wright

Ihave 23 yr old McLain Boiler 400,000btu in 320,000out. 3000sf house 2 pipe steam no traps.I insulated attic and dropped btu/degree day 15-20%& (60,000btu/dd to 45,000 btu/dd).I removed 5 burners.An audit showed boiler way oversized.I have a 160,000btu/hr loss

ASSUMING THIS BOILER IS 65% OR LESS EFFICIENT CAN I ASSUME A 90% efficient hot water system would reduce my heating cost by another20-25%?

kevin coppinger_4

change the boiler....

i am not so sure pulling out the burners was a good choice...I understand that you are oversized but you could be asking for trouble as to boiler preformance and proper draft.
NOW having said that, to properly size steam you don't go by a heat loss you go by the amount and size of the radiators...the amount of EDR....
Keep the steam and get a steam expert to set you up properly. kpc

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Steamhead

Keep the steam

There are too many pitfalls when you try to convert a steam system to hot water. A properly sized steam boiler will be a lot cheaper to run than what you now have. I think you may have a Vapor system (unless each radiator has two shutoffs and an air vent). Vapor was the Cadillac of heating in its day and is still one of the best systems out there.

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