Old house heating: Steam radiators or forced air?

@RascalOrnery my point is that is can be an echo chamber. We have valuable opinions here, but they’re biased. That’s fine but when someone asks for help we should acknowledge that!

I get it, you're saying because many people here like steam, it might be misread that more people use it than other methods and hence promote a good but possibly fading method as current and highly used and supported method.

For what it's worth, I don't have steam.

They can certainly heat a house though.....

Homeowners during different time have plenty of money to spend.

We always see posts on here about pool heaters…..that means they have a pool which is nice but not a necessity.

Heating systems to the average HO is not pretty. Its not like a new car, a pool, a deck, new golf clubs or anything else you can show off to your friends.

heating systems are a necessity but are looked on as a nuisence. People think nothing of plunking down 40k for a new vehicle every few years but heaven forbid the contractor wants 20k for a new boiler that will last 20 years.

I wish you were joking but you're not.

A decent truck is $50-70k now.

Personally I'd buy a used M939 long before id consider a new pickup.

Y'all will have to pry my 1970 C10 stepside longbed out of my cold dead hands!

Not really light… I got the heavy duty springs (1500 pound payload, 8,000 pound trailer) when I bought it. And that straight six isn't sexy, but it will pull anything you can get enough traction for.

This. HW has cornered that market. People with $$$ love their radiant.

The enhanced durability and simplicity of steam isn't a selling point to those folks.

But it's an honest 1500 pounds… I know, I've had that much on it routinely (25 70 pound hay bales). And it will do it all day. And has for 55 years now. For really heavy stuff I also have a K2500… only 30 years old now.

Bump. I'm really curious about this.

I’ll bet a very small percentage of the overall jobs!

The OP should prioritize his needs.

There are advantages to steam heat and advantages to hot air.

By determining what is most important to him and to his wife, we can help him choose the best heating system to fulfill those wishes.

Comfort? Floor space? Personal aesthetics? Installation costs? Headroom and space utilization? Operating cost? Return on investment? Silent operation? Reliability? Equipment lifespan? Floor space? Temperature consistency? Desirability to future owners? Disruption of lifestyle/architectural elements from installation? A place to dry wet gloves?

Consider what's important to you , and the answer will be simple.

This is engineering.

I did supplies and returns in the ceiling on my cooling only system and it works really really well. High returns means pulling warm air into the system. Obviously you need to keep the supplies far enough from the returns.

@mattmia2 's and @ChrisJ 'comments above illustrate — rather neatly — the fundamental problem with forced air systems which are meant to do double duty for both cooling and heating. The best placement for returns and supplies aren't really the same. Not that this can't be overcome, but the trick is as much in sizing as anything else: you need low velocity in the spaces, but complete circulation — which is going to look like fairly large, well sited openings for both. Not the typical 8 inch by 12 inch little rectangular louvre hiding under the couch!

I'm not sure the problem of cool air in the returns is particularly a problem, though — provided the space circulation is generous. If it is, then the cool air really isn't going to be all that much cooler (ideally only a degree or two).

in a “Properly” designed and installed duct system it doesn’t mater where the supply’s, returns are placed?

You get better mixing with the supplies by the ceiling . you'd only have a problem with low returns if the air is stratified (supplies and returns both low for example) Like @Jamie Hall mentions. Guess you could do both high on the wall, I've just never seen it done that way.

Use the list that @Long Beach Ed suggested above as your check list. That should narrow down you choice.

No one on this list or any other can tell you what the best system is.

Many agree that IAQ indoor air quality is as or more important than just a warm space. If so then some air movement, exchange, humidity control, filtration, odor exhaust, etc might be high on your list.

A straight hydronic or steam cannot check all those boxes.

and commercial units do not cycle on and off when the building is occupied!

If it's a single pipe system there's several things that can cause the hissing.

We can help you, but you'll need to help us do a radiator survey to see what's there and then compare it to your current boiler size. We also need to look at what venting you have.

DO NOT replace the boiler with the same exact size until a survey is done. Don't assume, and don't let the contractor assume. Also don't assume the piping is correct.

Contact @EzzyT to review what you have, what's wrong and what's needed.