Disabling zones in a large 2 pipe steam system

Dean_12

I have a 2 zone system in a recently purchased 1927 home that I want to return to single zone operation. One zone is a 450 square foot family room, and 5,150 square feet are on the second zone. Needless to say, the vaporstat shuts down almost instantly once steam is generated to just the small zone, and the pipes hammer like mad after the small zone has been dormant for a few hours (the zone valve is not drained on the high side). The zone also seems to be forcing my auto-feeder to compensate for condensate it holds (it's a lot...the room is corner to corner baseboard), flooding my boiler after a few days operation. Auto-feed is now shut off.

Can I just remove the thermostat, manually open the zone and cut its wires? The baseboards can be manually controlled, thankfully...but I'll bet most of the control valves are shot...

Patrick Linhardt, \"Linhardt's Field Guide to Ste

take it slow

Hi Dean,

The answer is a qualified yes. You should test the theory before cutting any wires. The concern is how to manually keep open that small zone valve. Some will fail to the open position with loss of power. Can you turn off the breaker to the circuit feeding power to the zone valve? Then observe if the valve goes open or closed?

If removing power to the zone valve keeps it open, it should not be too difficult to remove the controls.

Good luck and be careful, one step at a time.

Best regards, Pat

Bill Crites

Have you thought about the tappings into the wet zone to add "hot water" heat?