Adding Radiators to existing 1 pipe steam system

sevenmarch

Hello, I hope to find a professional to add radiators to 1 room and 2 bathrooms in my house that currently have electric heat. Before I get started on my search for a professional, I wanted to make sure I knew what questions to ask, plus get some answered beforehand.

Will the addition of radiators be determined on my SQ Feet of Radiation of existing radiators or would an analysis need to be done based on the existing house/rooms themselves? I know an anylisis should be done on the rooms I am adding.

I have 325 Sq Feet of Radiation (excel attached for this calculation) from my current radiators, not including the insulated piping. Boiler output is 358 Sq Feet. My house was recently insulated, plus new windows were added 6 years ago. I figure the current radiators were installed 100+ years ago based on the fact that their was not insulation and I may be able to get by with adding more radiators even thought I am close to my limit of Sq Foot output from the boiler. Any thoughts, theories?

Thanks for you input.
Matt

Garret

If you had two pipe steam, I'd suggest adding orifice plates to your rads to reduce their effective size... but I don't think that works with one-pipe steam. You balance a one-pipe steam system by adjusting the venting speeds, but I'm not sure you can "vent down" the size of a rad...

I think your safest bet is to re-arrange or replace some of your existing radiators as you add new ones. Do you have a local salvage yard? Maybe you can find smaller replacements for the big ones in the foyer and family room, and offset (somewhat) the edr you need to add.

How old is your boiler? If it's on its last legs anyway, maybe you can just live with an undersized boiler for a few years and increase size later when you replace the boiler.

-Garret
(fellow homeowner)

sevenmarch

replacement

Boiler is 3 years old. Previous owner had it replaced prior to my purchase. I am thinking it may be best to live with the undersized boiler until I can replace the oversized radiators in some rooms. I also think I can vent down my radiators with the existing adjustable vents. I currently do this in the upstairs anyway.

Anyone have a rough estimate on piping roughly 10 feet runoff from existing main to one bathroom radiator, and 30 feet runoff from main to one bathroom and one bedroom radiators?