Heating with just a steam pipe


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Old 02-05-06, 08:20 AM
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Question Heating with just a steam pipe

I am in the begining stages of putting a room in my basement. I have steam heat and a large pipe runs down the lenth of the room. Aproximatly 25 feet od hot pipe.....can I use this to heat the room effectivly???? I sure hate to put electric heat into the room and if I can somehow use this source of heat already there it wouls sure save in energy costs. I am not sure how much of the room it would heat yet because I have not removed the pipe insulation....It seem like it is old horsehair insulation. Let me know too..If I should be asking this in a different forum.....Any advice is appriciated. It is a one pipe steam system.
 
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Old 02-05-06, 08:24 AM
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I moved your post to Boilers to get a better answer. Good luck.
 
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Old 02-05-06, 10:09 AM
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I grew up in a house in Mass. which has a one-pipe steam heat system. Although the folks never finished the basement out, we used it year round as the laundry room/hobby shop, etc. It was always toasty warm. Some but not all of the pipe was lagged. I seem to remember that the elbows were open, and a lot of pipe near the boiler was clear; not relagged when pipes were fiddled with during boiler replacements.


As far as removing your old insulation, even money says it has asbestos in it so for your health and also for legal issues, this should be tested and removed by a certified abatement contractor.

Also, you should seek advice from a good HVAC contractor about the energy cost of heating this way. It still might be less expensive overall to install a dedicated heater of some sort.
 
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Old 02-05-06, 05:46 PM
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Heating with steam pipe

If you can let us know the size of the pipe, we can probably tell you how much heat it will emit per foot.
 
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Old 02-07-06, 01:39 PM
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About 15 feet of two inch pipe then it bends for about 6 feet with 1.5 einch black iron....also what is the best way to clean the rust off...anc will painting the pipe effect output?
 
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Old 02-07-06, 02:51 PM
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Pipe heat emissons

Two inch pipe will yield about 155 to 210 btu/ft at pipe temperatures of 180-210º. Inch & a half pipe will give you 125-175 btu/ft at the same temperatures.
A wire brush would probably be your best bet for removing surface rust. A light coat of paint should not seriously hurt the heat output.
 
 

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