Heating Help

amount of EDR

I need someone to check my math here.  I have the following radiators.
one 6" wide 20" high 4 tube radiator with 30 sections.
The rest are all the same 5 tube 19" high just under 8 inch wide Kohler radiators.
I have a 20 section, two 19 section, two 10 section, three 11 section and one 7 section.

This is a total of 118 sections of the Kohler 5 tube rads.  I come up with right around 330sqft of radiator.  I have a Burnham V83 boiler which in the manual states it is good for 283sqft of radiation.  Something is amiss here....

SQ" EDR

Your 4 tube 20" high rads are 2.25sq per section.
I dont have a 5 tube 19 listed, but I do have a 20', and its 2.6 per section.
Multiply out you sq' per section x number of sections, then multiply by 180 if water, and 240 if steam.

Are these rads

"Large-tube" or "Small-tube"?

Measure the center-to-center spacing of the sections of each rad. If they're 2-1/2" or more, they're large-tube. If 1-3/4" or 1-1/2", they're small-tube. The ratings are quite different so we need to know this.

2 1/2

The Kohler's are 2 1/2" center to center.

The one newer 30 section 4 tube one is definitely small tube.

I made a minor mistake on the Kohlers.  One of them is only 18 sections so I was 1 section over for a total of 117 sections.


Something tells me they sized the boiler by the house and not the radiators.  I have a 1700sqft house and the V83 is rated for 68,000 btu output. 

The small-tube rad

is 42 square feet.

If your supposition is correct, it's only the second time I've heard of an undersized boiler.

Undersized or Oversized

steamhead, am I better off with a slightly undersized boiler than an oversized? with the 42sqft figure from you I am right around 20sqft undersized.

Does it heat evenly?

, especially in warmer weather, and does it keep the house warm in severe weather?   Ultimately this is all that really matters. If your answer is yes to both of these, you are probably cutting your fuel usage using a smaller boiler. If it is not heating evenly, that can usually be addressed, especially if is two pipe, but also one pipe. 

uneven heat

I have only owned the house since April, so I have not seen any really cold days yet.

I can say it did indeed heat fairly even until we had someone come out and service the boiler.  They installed heat-timer varivents on four rads and ever since then its been a mess.  I will be swapping the varivents out before the fall.

Radiator vents

If you are replacing vents, try out the Ventrites or Hofman 1A adjustables.  They can be set at very low venting rates which makes it possible to balance nearly any one pipe steam system.  If you're on a tight budget, the Dole 1933, Hofmann 40 oe Gorton #4 will keep the venting rates down to allow the steam to distribute through the mains before the radiators start filling.  Getting the mains well vented is also important to good balance..something like Gorton #2 main vents on each main.

Undersized boiler

Here is the article I told you about in the e-mail http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/11/Hot-Tech-Tips/1551/Taking-Another-Look-at-Steam-Boiler-Sizing-Methods-by-Dave-Boilerpro-Bunnell

Thanks!

Great article from Boilerpro!

Thanks for the link.