Steam heat furnaces: anything better?
BobChapman
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
I appear to have a cracked boiler: I can hear the steam hissing from the unit when the flame turns off because of the high-pressure sensor. This is a natural-gas fired steam system.
I think that there are some increasingly complex and sohisticated systems for circulating-hot-water heating systems, but is there anything new for steam heat? anything other than just heating a pot of water like my present unit from 1979?
And is there any way to re-seal the boiler?
Thanks
Bob Chapman
Replies
because of the high-pressure sensor.
it sounds like you might just need a new pressure relief valve.
to answer your other question, there are boilers that are now more efficient since 1979, but to be honest, they are not all that different than what you have now.
it's like a car engine, it's still a pot of water being heated by a flame, it's just the controls that run the unit are more sophisticated.
carpenter in transition
To find out if you have a leak, you could turn it off and fill it up above the water line and then see if water comes out. Don't forget to drain it back down before you fire it up.
A great site for information about steam heating is heatinghelp.com. The experts on the forum there offer a lot of good advice. I recommend ordering the book "Lost Art of Steam Heating" from that site and reading it before you consider something as drastic as conversion to water. There is a lot to like about the old steam systems especially if you get them working correctly. I love mine and would never replace it.
There have been some recent advances in steam boiler technology so if you are shopping for a new boiler there are some interesting choices. Read the book first though, because the piping and venting are as important as the boiler. Sure, my boiler is just "heating a pot of water", but getting dry steam quickly and efficiently to it's intended location requires a proper configuration, whether you call that technology or art.