conversion advise

mveytsman13 · August 2020

I have a three story home in the nyc area (basement, 1st, 2nd). The basement has baseboard heating, the 1st and 2nd floors have steam. A bathroom on the 1st floor, which was part of an extension done by the previous owner, has an electric heater (no clue why) and it sits on the opposite end of the house from the boiler. I am planning on making some renovations and hoped to add a steam radiator to the bathroom, but i'm a bit hesitant because 1) steam is very sensitive to pitching problems and 2) most plumbers these days are not very experienced with steam systems given that the overwhelming majority of new and remodeled homes have hot water heat. If i'm planning on ripping up the floors, does it make sense to convert my system to hot water? What kind of cost could i expect to incur with a conversion? I believe my boiler can handle both steam and hot water, so that's something that wouldn't need to be changed. Thanks in advance for any guidance or advise.

Steamhead · August 2020

@mveytsman13 , what you need is a Steam Man. Since plumbing and heating are two different things that use pipes, it's possible for someone to be a very good plumber but not know steam.

\There are ways to handle the pitch issues. If you tell us where you're located, we might know someone who can handle this.

Don't waste your money converting to hot-water.

Jamie Hall · August 2020

There are a bunch of good steam men in the New York City area. Look under "find a contractor" for New York.

EdTheHeaterMan · August 2020

@mveytsman13 You came to the right place
You can get a ton of free expert to advise on this forum. @Jamie Hall has the best advice by going to the top of this web page and clicking on "Find A contractor" (if it is not at the top of this page go to the "Main Site" and you will see the link there)

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes · August 2020

A steam radiator would be nice in the bathroom. So would electric radiant in the floor.

EBEBRATT-Ed · August 2020

Try @JohnNY

JohnNY · August 2020

EBEBRATT-Ed said:
Try @JohnNY

That's me. Thank you, @EBEBRATT-Ed

mveytsman13 · August 2020

@Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes would it make sense to only install radiant in a small bathroom? I love radiant floors, so that's definitely appealing. My goal is to have a regular source of heat in the bathroom and not an ad-hoc electric heater. thanks everyone for your input.

mattmia2 · August 2020

Assuming the boiler has the capacity, there are numerous ways to add hot water radiant to the hot water loop for the basement. Electric radiant is also an option, though more costly to run, it could take decades to pay off the extra hardware to make a radiant loop in the difference between heating it with the boiler vs with electricity, especially if it has little outside exposure.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes · August 2020

mveytsman13 said:
@Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes would it make sense to only install radiant in a small bathroom? I love radiant floors, so that's definitely appealing. My goal is to have a regular source of heat in the bathroom and not an ad-hoc electric heater. thanks everyone for your input.

Electric floor heat makes sense to me in bathrooms. It would be zoned on it's own so it would keep the temperature stable and only warming according to the schedule you program. And you don't need a specialty tradesman (rare and overworked these days) to install it.

The only caveat is that electric radiant is classified as "floor warming", not "space heating", but I've never heard anyone say who has electric floor heating that the room doesn't heat properly.

Steamhead · August 2020

The problem with electric radiant floors is when they fail, you have to rip up the floor to fix them. Call me old-school, but I like having things where you can get at them easily.

mveytsman13 · August 2020

thanks for the input everyone

conversion advise

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