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Infrared Video of a Two-Pipe Steam Radiator Heating "Museum"

Gordo
Gordo Member Posts: 856
edited August 2019 in Strictly Steam
Check out these beauties!
To save time to get to a good part, maybe start at about 3:50 on the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaNWHH6tZIA
All Steamed Up, Inc.
"Reducing our country's energy consumption, one system at a time"
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Baltimore, MD (USA) and consulting anywhere.
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/all-steamed-up-inc
STEVEusaPA

Comments

  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,273
    Nice! Was fun seeing just how fast the one radiator heated once the valve was opened. It's easy to imagine the radiators are in a rather nice home. We get to go interesting places!

    Yours, Larry
    Gordo
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 16,796
    Here's where this is:

    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/151036/lovely-lane-methodist-church-a-steam-heating-museum

    I believe these are Nason radiators. But the piping tells me they weren't original- they come up underneath the rads instead of at the ends. We found the answer in a small storage room- see the rad at 0:50 . It looks somewhat like a Clogston, and its pipes connect underneath. We think the chapel's main room had these originally, and they were changed at some point, possibly because the originals were undersized.
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • Gordo
    Gordo Member Posts: 856
    Update: Went back the next day and removed all air vents (Hoffman #40s), tightened packing nuts and re-packed as needed and fired the system. Sorta expected many of the radiators that were not deliberately shut off (one massive radiator in a small room for instance, the second one shown in the video) to simply stop working.

    It was a pleasant surprise to find that only one radiator stopped heating. So, one trap failed closed it seems.

    Turned it back on, pulled the plug were the air vent was and it started to bang, then the pipes to that radiator starting getting hot. Put the plug back in!

    I've got an infrared video of that if you want to see it.

    Suspect the other traps are failed partly open, as all the ones we've rebuilt or opened up so far have elements dated 1943
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    "Reducing our country's energy consumption, one system at a time"
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Baltimore, MD (USA) and consulting anywhere.
    https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/all-steamed-up-inc
    MilanD
  • Lee_H
    Lee_H Member Posts: 4
    The surface temps between the radiators didn't appear to go below 88F, were they really that warm or was there not enough time for the readings to drop?
  • Gordo
    Gordo Member Posts: 856
    @Lee_H: Surface temperature readings with low end FLIR devices should always be taken with a sizable grain of salt.
    A lot of the surfaces in that space are varnished wood and therefore reflective, so as to directly reflect the heat signatures from the hot radiators.

    That being said, it also was pretty darned hot in that space (no A/C) even before the radiators came on!

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    "Reducing our country's energy consumption, one system at a time"
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Baltimore, MD (USA) and consulting anywhere.
    https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/all-steamed-up-inc