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[BIG AL]

one of the houses that we looked at in our great house search has a steam boiler and radiators. I basicly understand how a steam system works and I was wondering how would I connect my OWB to this system or can you connect to a steam system? I have seen where others have run more piping and turned it into a hot water system but this house is completely newly remodeled and I didn't want to have to take things apart again if we didn't have to. Thanks in advance for the help.

[aarmga]

I would like to know if that's possible as well.  Saw a vid on YouTube
That built his own gasser with a 3 stage burning system and was throwing in tires without any smoke leaving the chimney.  The third stage of the stove would boil the water in a separate pressurized chamber and run a small steam engine that he could use to power the pumps on the stove with.  He would have to add water all day long obviously.  That's the only was I could see this happening.

[slimjim]

It ain't gonna happen Al, I'm suppose to give a bid on renovating the steam heat system on a 200 year old historical building in Dover Nh this week, I'm not sure if they will even consider the bid as it will be in excess of $30,000 the guy was here two days ago and thinks he could change a single pipe black iron steam system for a 5000 foot building to a two pipe hydronic in a week and that's with changing out the steam rads to hydronic as well, three floors of them!

[BIG AL]

Figured it wouldn't be that easy, but I was hoping someone knew something I hadn't heard about.If we do end up with this house I guess I have a little plumbing to do

[mlappin]

Figured it wouldn't be that easy, but I was hoping someone knew something I hadn't heard about.If we do end up with this house I guess I have a little plumbing to do

Sounds like it far as the plumbing goes, physics are working against yah here.

[E Yoder]

I've wondered about tieing into steam too, but couldn't imagine how it could be done, as water is cooler than steam.
But... we don't see steam down here anyway. Fascinating tho.

[BIG AL]

well there is a pretty good chance I could re-use all the cast radiators and take out the black pipe and replace it with copper or pex if I could hide it.Most steam boilers that aren't a million years old can run hot water as well , but probably just put in a new to me \ used one as there are a lot of oil boilers for sale cheep around here as many towns are putting in Natural Gas. Probably go with 2 zones and then I could loop the first and second floor seperately. On the bright side it is only just spring today and that would keep me out of trouble for a little while. I love old houses and I have no problem looking a a little copper pipe running up the inside of the wall if it's done nice.

[mlappin]

That’’s how most of the older houses I’ve been in while in the UK are done, copper pipe ran in plain sight to the few copper radiators they have (doesn’t get real cold in the winter) and most houses the pipes are just painted to match the wall color. Kinda weird though, they have just enough pressure to fill a storage tank in the attic with water, the showers have an add on unit/pump on the shower wall to up the pressure enough to have a decent shower. Heating and DHW are the same system which is why it’s all copper, not unusual for a house thats empty for very long to get the plumbing completely stripped by scrappers.

On the other hand with just enough water pressure to fill each houses attic cistern the town/village doesn’t need as much water pressure on the mains so less repairs. Usually in the garden (backyard here) there will be a pipe coming thru the wall just under the eaves, this is the overflow pipe in case the cistern fill valve malfunctions, the homeowner/tenant knows immediately then something is wanky.

[E Yoder]

well there is a pretty good chance I could re-use all the cast radiators and take out the black pipe and replace it with copper or pex if I could hide it.Most steam boilers that aren't a million years old can run hot water as well , but probably just put in a new to me \ used one as there are a lot of oil boilers for sale cheep around here as many towns are putting in Natural Gas. Probably go with 2 zones and then I could loop the first and second floor seperately. On the bright side it is only just spring today and that would keep me out of trouble for a little while. I love old houses and I have no problem looking a a little copper pipe running up the inside of the wall if it's done nice.

Sounds like a fun job!
What I meant was tieing into a steam system without repiping it. For a summer project it's not bad, but I'd hate to pay someone to do it all.
We run into a few houses down here that are electric baseboard. Then we're starting from scratch running ducts or radiant. A lot more time invested .