Steam and hydronic

heating system repair and servicing:

With emphasis on repair not replacement

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    Many of these steam systems have been installed in the early 1900s by men who are now deceased known in the trade as the "dead men" . While these systems operate flawlessly for decades eventually they need to be serviced.

    I recently attended a seminar in Boston given by Dan Holohan who is know to be the worlds greatest authority on steam heat. You can contact him on his website at heating help.com/ I learned at the seminar that sometimes (many times) the things that we do to correct problems can actually speed them up or make them worse. For example many systems are run at too high a steam pressure when a lower pressure will work fine and eliminate problems.
 
    High pressure (above 2 psig)  is probably the most common cause of problems next to bad near piping in replacement boilers. Meaning that you can replace a boiler and cause all kinds of new problems (caused by water being sucked into the mains) that were not there with the old boiler and of course the new boiler will get the blame.
 
    If you get banging or hammering in pipes it is always caused by water being where it doesn't belong or not having it where it does. Usually in return lines  and on start up.
 
    A bad steam trap in a two pipe system will cause all the radiators in the system to not work except the one with the bad trap and can cause failure of the new traps. You may be tempted to replace all the traps on the offending radiators except the one that still heats to no avail. Adding air vents will make everyone happy until the boiler shuts down and all that condensate comes crashing down and floods the boiler (the water makeup valve will get blamed).

    The first systems were fired by coal then converted to oil and eventually gas. These systems can be as simple as gravity systems with one zone or as complicated as multiple zones with condensate pumps.

    Whatever type system you have whether fired by gas, oil, coal or even wood. G&S Mechanical Services can repair your steam or hot water system.

                 This text written by: Scott Meenen * G & S Mechanical