We have never had a house with radiators, but I have been in couple. One. the heat was even throughout the house and I loved it. The other, a B&B in Haines, Alaska, one room (ours) was so hot and could not be adjusted the owner said while the other room was much colder.
I have a few questions. We bought a foreclosure in southern Illinois. Love the house, but several of the radiators had burst.
First ? – does anyone know if the damaged sections can be removed since it looks like radiators are a bunch of sections connected to get desired size?
Second ? – this is a 5500 sq ft 2 story house. At some point, central air was added to the second story. It appears that there is an electric furnace (Trane) up there in the attic, too. I guess I am just looking for a non-technical opinion here. Do you think they put in electric heat for the top floor because the radiators didn’t work very well up there?
Any suggestions on reading material where I can do some research? Yes, we talked with the only heating contractor in that area and he suggested three new forced air furnaces (2 in the basement and one in the attic). We have a great heating guy over in Billings, MT. I am going to draw a floor plan for him and ask his advice, but I would expect his experience with boilers/radiators would be limited.
Can all problems be remedied? Like that B&B in Alaska, could he have gotten even heat if he had replaced or repaired something? I think this house has 22 radiators. Is that just too many on one system?
Thanks for sharing any thoughts you can.
Joanne
Replies
Take a poke over at http://www.heatinghelp.com, they have a ton of information on heating systems. Regarding radiators, most are held together with threaded rods, allowing sections to be removed. Steam heat is a fairly
efficient system, once it's been "tuned up" properly. Unfortunately, I've found the number of plumbers who are familiar with old steam heating systems to be dwindling.
OPD
Otis, thanks. I think this is hot water. I found a book on Amazon and ordered it. I think we will try to take the radiators apart and take out the bad sections since they are so ornate and we want to keep the house (1910) as original as possible.
And, maybe I can find someone in St Louis or Paducah that is competent. I just want to know what we are doing is best. The heating contractor actually looked at buying the house for himself and did not notice the furnace in the attic and a plumber neighbor wants to do something else for us. After seeing a neighbor's new roof job and another neighbor's addition, I don't think I trust the contractors there.