Single pipe hydronic heat

[Fishingfoolemjak]

Looking for some help please.... I inherited a house and I’m trying to do some renovations before we move into it next year. I will be adding central heat and air next summer.

Years ago my father in law (who we inherited the house from) abandoned the hydronic baseboard heat and used only his wood stove. When abandoning it he removed the boiler from the system and installed an electric water heater. There are 3 pipes attached to the old boiler, what appears to be an inlet, and 2 outlets. I followed the outlets and they go to 2 different sets of the baseboard heaters. Looking at the heaters, there are no pipes leaving them returning to system.... and there is no water in the pipes attached to old boiler.

My question is, is there such a system where there would be only one pipe to the heater? I want to remove the baseboard heaters but I’m confused as to if I’m missing a pipe, I don’t want to create more problems....

 

[sixty4]

Hydronic no, Steam yes, but you would have a vent off the end..

 

[acmikee]

need pics of the radiators with the valves that are on it.
sounds like you have steam radiators.
you can do one pipe hot water where the outlet of the coil returns back to the single pipe but is not very efficient but cheat to install

 

[442stu]

Is / was there a pipe connecting the 2 radiators to make a loop? Looks like it was a loop system at one time. There is a circulator in the lower return line. One pipe steam systems dont need a circulator.

 

[Fishingfoolemjak]

I don’t know a lot about it. I am gonna be there tomorrow evening and I’ll pull the covers off the heaters. I’m wanting to remove it all anyways, I’m just trying to figure out if I’m missing something.... I’ll post more tomorrow evening and pics. Thanks guys

 

[bobbyjean]

yes there can be a one pipe system as you mentioned....any other pipe leaving the tank that is above the boiler?looks like the flow is going thru it...that red valve is a flo check device...you may see an arrow indicating direction...
gonna need some service...bet it still runs though...get an elbow on that pee-pee leg from the relief valve though

 

[yeldogt]

Steam systems don't have circulators .. at least none I remember. I'm assuming he added the water heater to heat DHW when the boiler was disconnected .. not to heat water for the heating system?

Hot water heat is great -- especially old radiators in an older somewhat drafty house.

 

[Jackfre]

it will be worth having a pro evaluate what is there if you plan on trying to being that system back. In my opinion it is the worst type of boiler system as it had a tankless coil for hot water. Your boiler is piped for a hot water circulating system. There is no Single pipe system for hot water circuit systems without a return. It is common on steam systems to have a one pipe lay-out but the pipe is large to accommodate the condensate return within the steam supply pipe. You do not have that.

 

[yeldogt]

Actually steam heat is cool ...err hot. My grandparents house was steam -- the guys that did steam had to know what they were doing ...most of the big old mansions used coal fired steam as it did not need any outside power. When I was in college and a house sitter -- all of them had steam .. most converted to oil or gas. Oil actually worked better for steam because the flame was hotter

 

[Fishingfoolemjak]

Ok. I was finally able to tear into it. It is an isolated loop system. I was unable to see the loop pipes because they were tucked into the corners up high in the crawl. There was an in and an out to every baseboard heater. I’m simply cutting the pipes and plugging the holes, then when I’ve removed all of them, I will go under the crawl and remove all of the pipe.

In the picture, the pipe I have labeled “pipe to heat far away” goes to an expansion tank and is the supply for all of the heats. The one labeled “pipe to heat close by” is actually the return to the boiler.

Thanks to everyone for taking time to read and offer suggestions/help!

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Personally, I'd recommission the baseboard and just do central air. The heat is more even and it heats the objects in the house, not just the air.



Tommy

 

[yeldogt]

Personally, I'd recommission the baseboard and just do central air. The heat is more even and it heats the objects in the house, not just the air.



Tommy

Exactly -- I don't know why you would want to rip it out ... especially if radiators or cast baseboard as the age points to. Not a huge fan of copper base -- but it's still nice heat.

 

[brewchief]

I would have no problem ripping that out, I see an oil boiler from the seventies or eighties, I bet we have anything needed to make it run on the self at work and I still wouldn't put any effort into it. Either the tankless coil is plugged or leaking or something is wrong with the boiler or someone simply was tired of feeding it oil year round for hot water.

Replacement of that boiler would be 5-6k plus another 1500-2000 to add a indirect water heater if you didn't want to keep the electric one. Better to spend that on a forced air system(furnace and air or air handler and heat pump) then to pour money into a system that can only provide heat.