Splitting steam system?

Hi me and my partner live in a 4 story home, to avoid conflict we’ve decided that we need to have 2 separate heating systems with separate BILLING as well (we know this would cost thousands… but…)  so right now we have a one pipe steam system all the way up for both of us, (my partner is already in the process of putting in new system, so modifying the old one is no longer an option) what I would like to do is, just cut the pipes (risers) at the top of the second floor (cap or valve where necessary) and keep the system running just for the bottom 2 floors (making sure the boiler works properly with this too) while the 2 upper floor’s will get a totally new system. Is this feasible? Should it work as easy as it sounds? Anything to be concerned about or to watch out for? Thanks

352now

in Heating 12 years and 11 months ago

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352now | 12 years and 11 months ago

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ok fear enugh, i just wanted to get an idea, if after reading all that i did about steam systems i understood enugh to help “save” “half” the current steam system, and get some input from others on this idea. rather then putting in (or converting to) another type of heating.   so some pepole here say it should work fine just BE SURE the boiler is sized acortingly. and PM is suggesting that its “a major mechanical alteration” i guess thats a bit more then i thaught… and yes now that i got some input, (i wouldn’t mind some more:) it is time to call somone. and here’s the real chalange, getting somone that will do it right the first! time…….

Master Plvmber | 12 years and 11 months ago

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352now, no matter what you do, you’re taking on a major mechanical alteration and an online forum is not the place for good, complete answers. To keep myself on target, I don’t do free practical/efficiency consultation-and-design work without a client’s commitment for the job so you need to seek options for who to call to make this go right, but you will need to call someone.

eman134 | 12 years and 11 months ago

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It sounds like you are converting the top floor into either a hydronic system (excellent idea) or a forced hot air furnace (terrible idea). If you clip off the top unit from the steam system, you will end up with an old boiler sized for double the capacity of the system. This will probably short cycle(turn on and off incessantly,resulting in poor heating and fuel waste) as well as bang and any number of issues resulting from a massively oversized boiler. At the very least, you should replace the old boiler with one sized for the new heating load based on the steam load required for the lower 2 floors. For a free consultation, my info is in my profile

352now | 12 years and 11 months ago

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well the boiler i have now is very very old, had lots of work on it, so replacing it is not a bad idea at all (maybe even converting to gas) to MP, my partner is putting in a totally new system (not a steam system) with his own boiler etc. so its not “two mini steam” (or did you mean any two small heating systems?) so in this case it seems to me that just cutting off the upper half of the system would be most simple and cost effective way to do it rather then converting to hot water heating which i think will take much more work then cutting pipes and putting in some air valves? unless i’m really missing somthing here. do you still think its not a good idea? please tell me so i don’t mess things up and run in to trouble…

Master Plvmber | 12 years and 11 months ago

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I know this sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t. Having two mini steam heating systems will incur more expense and create more problems than they will solve. A better way, but far from the best, is to leave the upper apartment on its steam system and convert the lower unit into a hot water heating system using either the existing steam boiler or two new small ones: one for each system.

SewardWasRight | 12 years and 11 months ago

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Theorettically, I believe this will work, but I think it will be more costly that it looks. Most importantly, is the size of the current boiler with the new system. You are going to have to be check your boiler size to see if it will match with the “new” 1-pipe system. Now that you are essentially cutting half the piping system (with all of its radiators) off from the boiler, if the boiler was not undersized to begin with, then your boiler is going to be oversized for the system. This will cause a number of inefficiencies, such as cycling, &c. The plumbers on here can go into detail on this, and probably note other things to look out for. Good luck. SWR