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Old house heating: Steam radiators or forced air?

montysir
montysir Member Posts: 1

hi there!

we moved into an old house built in the 1930s in New Jersey. The house has steam radiators with a gas powered boiler in the basement. And then we have central AC with dampers in the attic. Our boiler is 30 years old and we’re doing a bunch of renovation in the house, so the question is:


should we stick to boiler and steam heat or switch to forced air heat?

Some considerations:

  • We are based in New Jersey
  • The house was built in 1930s
  • We had HVAC companies provide us some quotes to switch to forced heat, and they all mentioned that some of the ductwork would have to be redone to support heating (since it’s designed for cooling)
  • Planned renovation involves tearing down a couple of walls on the second floor
  • We have no major issues currently with the cooling or heating in the house, other than a couple of dead zones and poorly insulated areas which we will fix in the renovation
  • The reason for switching to central would be get to rid of the boiler in the basement and make it a mud room, get rid of refilling/draining the boiler process every few weeks, don’t have to worry about hammering noises, and remove the radiators (my wife thinks they are ugly lol)

FWIW, some of the HVAC contractors we got quotes from mentioned we would end up dissatisfied with forced heat and these old houses are not well setup for it. None of them were able to offer an explanation I could understand other than “they’re not built for central.” Really hoping the experts here can shed some light on what would be good to do!

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Comments

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 7,621

    Don't do it.

    And stop draining the boiler. There shouldn't be hammering noises, those can be fixed.

    You can contact me at the link below if you like, I didn't know anything about steam when I bought my NJ house in 2017. Now you'd have to pry it from my cold dead fingers.

    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

    mattmia2
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,703

    If the wife thinks the radiators are ugly then this one is a lost cause.

    You should keep the steam but you will hear about it every time a pipe bangs or there is an issue with the boiler………….for EVER.

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,765

    Keep the steam. And if your wife thinks the rads are ugly, have them refinished in whatever color she wants.

    Does the boiler have a float-type low-water cutoff that requires weekly draining?

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    Mad Dog_2
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 2,145
    edited May 1

    Solve for wife crabbing about rads:

    image.png

    Never used them but they are in NYC. https://stanleyradiatorenclosures.com/

    You really, really, REALLY do NOT want to go to forced air for heat. At best, it's inferior to steam, at worst it really sucks.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
    Mad Dog_2
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,006

    do not tell the wife. Get the heat pumps but keep the steam. Come next February when that NE wind is blowing and the mercury is dropping and she’s complaining I’m cold, turn the steam on. Do NOT tell her I told you so. Let her decide!

    delcrossvethicalpaulMad Dog_2CLamb
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,655

    Speaking as someone who went out specifically looking for a house with cast iron radiators because I like them, I'd say keep the steam and get rid of the wife.

    😉

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

    ethicalpauldelcrossvMad Dog_2leonz
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,983

    You will have to do EXTENSIVE revisions to the ductwork if you switch to forced air (or a heat pump). Nothing minor or "some" about it, And the ducts are large. Even if you do, you will have to run the house warmer to feel somewhat comfortable. If you don't, you will be miserable.

    Keep the steam. There is no need to drain and refill the boiler, except perhaps once per season (and not even then, in most cases), unless you have a float type low water cutoff — and that takes all of a minute or so to do. There is no good excuse for bangs; they can be almost completely, if not completely, eliminated by minor work — mostly checking and restoring the pitch of some of the pipes.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    delcrossvleonz
  • leonz
    leonz Member Posts: 1,514

    As Brother Jamie has said you should keep your steam heat because it will cost you a great deal of money to install and the payback period would be very very long and the house will not be as warm during the winter months and modern furnaces do not last as long as steam boilers.

    It would help if you could upload pictures of your boiler and radiators.

    What do you mean in reference to dead zones? Could the radiator valves in these areas be completely closed?

    In regard to the banging you are experiencing the header pipes and or the radiators are not pitched back to the boiler to let the condensate drain back to the boiler. The cold water that has collected in the sagging pipes instantly reacts to the steam rising from the boiler and contacting the cold water remaining in the pipe which causes the banging.

    The quickest thing to do is use a good bubble level to check the header pipes in the basement as they may have sagged over time and also check each radiator for level as the radiators need to be shimmed on the end to drain condensate back to the riser or header pipe to prevent banging.

    YOU are in need of a steam licensed plumber to take care of your boiler with the needed repairs and bring it up to code and correctly pitch your steam piping and radiators and stop her from complaining.

    You can buy beautiful radiator covers to eliminate the wifes UGGHHHH radiator issues and save a great deal of money as furnace ducting installations take up a great deal of space in a basement and cost a great deal of money.

    These contractors that told you old houses are not built for central heat did you no favors as your steam boiler is your central heating source.

    My wife's first home was a 2 story Montgomery Ward kit home that came to the local rail yard in box cars with everything down to the last nail, pipe, faucet and the hand fed coal steam boiler and the steam heating system was a single pipe steam boiler.

    Whoever told you that you would not be happy with forced air heating is right as there is no radiant heat being shed from a properly shimmed radiator that is draining condensate back to the header pipe or pipes sloped to drain back to the boiler.

    Growing up I lived in 2 houses with forced air and I hated it because I was always cold and the dust bunnies were rampant. The apartment over my fathers grocery store had coal fired steam heat that was converted to gas and the heat was slow and even and we had warm floors as well.

    Your steam boiler needs some Tender Loving Care and a steam licensed plumber to take care if it and eliminate the wifes issues with the steam heating.

    Removing those radiators will only make a furnace installer richer for the scrap money and you will lose the source of radiant heat in your home.

    Have your wife lay several blankets on one of the radiators after the steam plumber provides the boiler the TLC it needs and shims the pipe and radiators and have her sit on the warm radiator for a while and then ask here how she likes the heat. If she still complains about the floors not being warm there is no hope for her.

  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189

    The tension here is that everyone loves steam. But also almost no one has it in their own home. Make of that what you will

    delcrossv
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,006

    this house is HW. Yes I have heat pumps for the shoulder seasons but still use the HW.
    same with steam,


    you can’t warm winter cloths with scorched air heat!

    Hot_water_fan
  • leonz
    leonz Member Posts: 1,514

    If I had the money I would have ripped out the baseboard heat (which I hate) long ago and replaced it with top fed steam and a coal fired stoker set up with steam controls in 1982.

    No, you cannot dry wet soaked winter or fall clothing slowly without shrinking them with scorched air.

    You can set them on a radiator covered with a radiator cover or blankets and have the clothes dry and ready to wear provided the cat has not monopolized the radiator.

    Mad Dog_2
  • RTW
    RTW Member Posts: 228

    Cast Iron Steam Radiators are a charm in an older home, such as mine, built circa 1760. Steam will serve you well if properly installed and serviced. However, you will need a steam pro - likely from this site - to get the system in order.

    I suspect the relationship may turn out to be a tug-of-war on not just the heating system, but on other choices during renovation process.

    All the best.

    RTW

    Hot_water_fan
  • RascalOrnery
    RascalOrnery Member Posts: 85

    In beauty and the beast, the beast became lovable once he saved bell's life.

    Open the windows get the house cold, turn on the AC, open the freezer. Play a little ice hockey in the living room.

    Give it an hour.

    Then, strike up the steam. Those ugly radiators will turn into young princes by the kisses bestowed upon them by her majesty.

    leonzdelcrossvMad Dog_2
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 12,600

    my gloves are still sitting in front of the register. force air does a great job of drying out clothing if it is cold enough that is is running. the problem is it is usually too warm for heat and too cold for ac when my shoes get wet. eve the cold dry moving air of the ac does a decent job of drying things.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,983

    Most suburban folks live in newer houses — many of them less than 30 years old — where everything was done to go cheap. And forced air is cheap to install in a new build (not as a retrofit). Most people living in denser cities on the east coast have steam, because their buildings are mostly pre-WWII or even earlier, and are much more compact and forced air was almost unheard of (gravity air, yes, but only for the very high end mansions).. Most rural homes will be steam or hot water.

    But… the ones who squeak and the ones who post are the suburban ones, so there is an illusion that "almost no one has it in their own home".

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    delcrossv
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,703

    Steam and HW are only a fraction of the systems installed. Hot air is the king in most of the country whether we like it or not.

    Nothing wrong with hot air if it done right unfortunately it seldom is. Hot air will be unsatisfactory in some buildings like masonary construction. Low ceilings with overhead supplies are a problem occupants can feel air movement. And overhead heat supply is never good.

    Most jobs have undersized ductwork that can't be balanced

    delcrossvHot_water_fan
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 2,145

    "The reason for switching to central would be get to rid of the boiler in the basement and make it a mud room"

    Done correctly, you'd be replacing steam pipes in your basement with much larger ductwork. 🤔

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 12,600

    In michigan even in old houses steam or hot water aren't common, there is some but most were gravity warm air.

    delcrossvHot_water_fan
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 2,145
    edited 3:26PM

    That's how our house started out. (Originally a farmhouse)

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189
    edited 3:43PM

    Jamie, it’s not the ones that squeak. Probably 95%+ of Americans don’t have steam. This is a pleasant and knowledgeable echo chamber, but still an echo chamber! Should we try to understand why Americans have abandoned steam? Or just call them names?

  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,655

    What most people have doesn't justify the cost of tearing a system out that can perform perfectly fine and paying to install a new one.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,983

    I do not call them names. Indeed, much of my "day" job has to do with helping them. All of them. The ones with post WWII houses with forced hot air. The ones with brownstones or triple deckers with steam or hot water (when it works at all). The ones with more money than they know what to do with with multi-zoned heat pumps. If there is one thing I've learned — I hope — it is that one size most assuredly does not fit all.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189
    edited 5:14PM

    What most people have doesn't justify the cost of tearing a system out that can perform perfectly fine and paying to install a new one.

    well then steam is losing because people don’t want it. Plain and simple. We can both personally like steam and admit that the vast majority of Americans do not want it.

    @Jamie Hall you called them cheap and squeakers!

  • RascalOrnery
    RascalOrnery Member Posts: 85

    It seems to me the original post needs to pick his tie breaker, whether it be cost, looks, comfort, future plans, maintenance cost, etc. At this point there doesn't appear to be a wrong solution in the runnings. Maybe someone could assemble the likely pros and cons into a list to consolidate things

    Hot_water_fan
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,765

    If no "one wanted steam", this website would not exist. Think about it…………..

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    ChrisJpecmsg
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,983

    I wasn't referring to the tenants or the latest owners, or even, often, the owner-occupier landlords… @Hot_water_fan … get out and wander around Harlem or the Bronx… Queen… Roxbury… ride into Baltimore from the north on Amtrak… downtown pretty much any larger northeast city… South Chicago…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189

    @Jamie Hall I live in Baltimore and have steam. That doesn’t change the fact that homeowners don’t want it enough to install it :). Shouldn’t we examine why that is? Instead of trying to blame it on everyone else?

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,765

    @Hot_water_fan , I live in Baltimore and have hot-water radiators. They will only be removed over my cold, dead body.

    In most cases, homeowners have very little input regarding what type of heat the builder installs. Mostly it's already there when they buy the house, and the money isn't there to upgrade given mortgage terms these days.

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189

    @Steamhead No, that’s not it. People spend lavishly on their homes. And rates were 3% only a few years ago. Money was cheap and people were spending. Just not on steam!

  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,655

    I don't know about the OP but I don't personally care what most people want.

    I care about what I want.

    That's why I told our realtor I wanted to see houses with steam heat and cast iron radiators.

    If I didn't like radiators I would've looked at houses without them. As you said there's no shortage on houses with forced air so why buy one without it and then pay a fortune to change it?

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

    Hot_water_fan
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,765

    @ChrisJ if we're talking Baltimore, you want to live in a place with good schools and less crime. That's not Baltimore City. You can always upgrade the heat, but not the schools etc.

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    Hot_water_fan
  • RascalOrnery
    RascalOrnery Member Posts: 85

    I've been in a lot of places with forced hot air that I always felt chilly or sweaty. Seldom comfortable. I'm sure it has to do with cycling but too me it's like trying to adjust the temp in my car. Up, down, off, repeat. It's impossible for me to be comfortable with rather fast moving air trying to heat me at the same time wicking away my body temp. Unlike air conditioning where the moving air helps with the chilling process.

    Maybe it's preference, some people turn ceiling fans on in the winter to push the heat back down. Makes me feel cold, so I don't.

    Slow and steady wins for me.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,983

    There's another factor, folks… how many buildirs will even suggest anything except hot air? It's cheap, it's popular — just look at the Jones's down the street! It's easy to install (though not to install right). What's not to like?

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189
    edited 7:54PM

    @Jamie Hall that’s implying that builders understand that steam adds no value ? How do we change that? Or is the steam industry stuck?

  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,655
    edited 7:54PM

    Have you observed anything builders tend to do?

    There's a ton of things they do that id never do. Lets start with using the absolute cheapest electrical components like panels, switches and receptacles.

    I wouldn't base any argument on what builders tend to do. Seriously.

    And none of this lonely argument is helping the OP.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

    mattmia2
  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189

    I trust builders to make money, or at least attempt to. To do that, they must build what people want to buy and not build what they dislike. That means steam is often not included. Yet, this wall loves steam. So is our advice helpful if we so heavily promote the thing that almost no one wants?

    mattmia2
  • RascalOrnery
    RascalOrnery Member Posts: 85

    Did anyone say steam heat is right for everyone? I didn't hear that anywhere.

  • Hot_water_fan
    Hot_water_fan Member Posts: 2,189

    @RascalOrnery correct nobody said that and no one claimed anyone did. But what does exist is a strong bias.

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,006
    edited 8:23PM

    Is there a return on investment? Doubtful. Mew construction

    In floor radiant

    Possibly HW Coils with the Heat Pumps

    Multiple systems.