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EDR of this radiator

luketheplumber
luketheplumber Member Posts: 157
edited September 26 in Strictly Steam

I have a small 6 tube radiator that 1 foot tall. Would 1 of yall have the specs for this radiator?

Located in durham NC.

Comments

  • luketheplumber
    luketheplumber Member Posts: 157
    20240926_141232.jpg
    20240926_141229.jpg

    Located in durham NC.

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,387

    That's an unusual one. The short legs tell me it's probably a "small-tube" type. Check the section spacing- the distance between the center of one section to the center of the next one.

    I've only been able to find 14-inch-tall rads so far. If the section spacing is 1-1/2" or 1-3/4", it's small-tube, about 24 square feet.

    But if it's 2-1/2", figure on 32 square feet. This would be a large-tube rad.

    Is this on a Vapor system?

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • luketheplumber
    luketheplumber Member Posts: 157

    @Steamhead I don't believe so. I think this radiator was added later on as it's the only one like this on the system. The rest are normal tube radiators with a few column rads sprinkled in.

    Would it be safe to guess on this one and throw in another 5-10k btuson the boiler to compensate for this radiator?

    In that case, I'd need a 160k btu output boiler.

    Located in durham NC.

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,387

    32 square feet is 7,680 BTU per hour on steam. What exactly are we doing here? New boiler? Steam or hot-water?

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,953

    none of this is an exact science, you just need to be close, probably erring on the side of a little smaller, especially if you are using the IBR ft^2 of steam ratings with 30% pickup factor baked in

    ethicalpaul
  • luketheplumber
    luketheplumber Member Posts: 157

    @Steamhead working on replacing the boiler. I actually miscalculated and if I'm correct the system should do good with a boiler with an output of about 210k BTUs. So a boiler with an input of 252k BTUs should do the trick.

    Located in durham NC.

  • luketheplumber
    luketheplumber Member Posts: 157

    My calculations. Please correct me if I'm wrong

    Radiator 1, 30 sqf

    Radiator 2, 18 sqf

    Radiator 3, 87.5 sqf

    Radiator 4, 32 sqf

    Radiator 5, 87.5 sqf

    Radiator 6, 84 sqf

    Radiator 7, 84 sqf

    Radiator 8, 52.5 sqf

    Radiator 9, 18.75 sqf

    Radiator 10, 18 sqf

    Radiator 11, 50 sqf

    Radiator 12, 50 sqf

    Radiator 13, 40 sqf

    Total EDR with a 1.33 pickup = 867.4925

    Total btu output of the system = 208,198.2

    Boiler that should fit the system best would be about 250k BTUs.

    Located in durham NC.

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 6,669

    don’t do all that pickup and btu math, just compare your EDR to the sq ft of steam of the boiler

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,387
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1812036#Comment_1812036

    This. The Square Feet rating already has the pickup factor built in. Note that if the new boiler has a CycleGard low-water cutoff, which stops the burner for a level check every 20 minutes or so, you lose a percentage of output capability. I wouldn't try undersizing a boiler for this reason.

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting

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