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why is steam heat inefficient? Josh 03-16-2007
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Posted by -zero on March 16, 2007, 9:23 pm

>> | Spend a few days over at Google.com . It's all been asked/answered.

> I have.

Not looking at gay porn! Look up steam related things instead. <bg>

> That's a copout, zero. If you didn't know the answer, you didn't
> have to reply.

LOL!

Nice troll.

Have fun.

-zero



Posted by Stormin Mormon on March 16, 2007, 9:56 pm
If I had to take a really wild guess. It's cause steam needs to
be heated to a higher temp than hot water. 250 instead of 140 or
so. What happens, is that with a steam system the exhaust gaseses
up the flue are hotter.

With a 90 % efficiency hot air furnace, the flue gasses are so
cold they won't rise (naturally) up a masonry chimney.

A lot of the efficiency factor comes from extracting more heat
from the exhaust, and sending colder exhaust out. I've not seen a
90+ efficiency fuel oil furnace. Oil versus gas, well, it depends
on the design of the furnace. I've seen some gas furnaces that
are (probably) 60 or 60% efficient. But I've never seen a 90+ oil
furnace.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

: "Steam systems are generally less efficient than hot water
heating systems,
: but the efficiency gain of upgrading to hot water is probably
not worth the
: expense"
:
: I have heard this asserted just about everywhere universally,
without a
: single justification. Why is steam heat less efficient? Is it
intrinsically
: less efficient than hot water-based heating systems, or is it
simply because
: its typical installation is more wasteful? My guess is that
steam is less
: efficient because all the old steam pipes have had their
asbestos insulation
: removed and haven't been reinsulated since. Add to that the
fact that steam
: is much hotter and has less heat capacity than water and you
have a recipe
: for a very inefficient system.
:
: But bad practice doesn't mean steam heat is less efficient.
:
: And what about other types of home heating systems, like forced
hot air? How
: efficient are they? Does the energy source matter as far as
efficiency goes?
: Are oil-burning boilers/furnaces more efficient than gas
burning ones?
:
: josh
:
:



Posted by on March 17, 2007, 12:47 am

> If I had to take a really wild guess. It's cause steam needs to
> be heated to a higher temp than hot water. 250 instead of 140 or
> so. What happens, is that with a steam system the exhaust gaseses
> up the flue are hotter.
>
> With a 90 % efficiency hot air furnace, the flue gasses are so
> cold they won't rise (naturally) up a masonry chimney.


Does hot air not rise in your part of the country?

You just showed that you have NO CLUE as to WHY a 90+% furnace is induced
draft.


> A lot of the efficiency factor comes from extracting more heat
> from the exhaust, and sending colder exhaust out. I've not seen a
> 90+ efficiency fuel oil furnace. Oil versus gas, well, it depends
> on the design of the furnace. I've seen some gas furnaces that
> are (probably) 60 or 60% efficient. But I've never seen a 90+ oil
> furnace.
>
> --
>
> Christopher A. Young
> You can't shout down a troll.
> You have to starve them.
> .
>
> : "Steam systems are generally less efficient than hot water
> heating systems,
> : but the efficiency gain of upgrading to hot water is probably
> not worth the
> : expense"
> :
> : I have heard this asserted just about everywhere universally,
> without a
> : single justification. Why is steam heat less efficient? Is it
> intrinsically
> : less efficient than hot water-based heating systems, or is it
> simply because
> : its typical installation is more wasteful? My guess is that
> steam is less
> : efficient because all the old steam pipes have had their
> asbestos insulation
> : removed and haven't been reinsulated since. Add to that the
> fact that steam
> : is much hotter and has less heat capacity than water and you
> have a recipe
> : for a very inefficient system.
> :
> : But bad practice doesn't mean steam heat is less efficient.
> :
> : And what about other types of home heating systems, like forced
> hot air? How
> : efficient are they? Does the energy source matter as far as
> efficiency goes?
> : Are oil-burning boilers/furnaces more efficient than gas
> burning ones?
> :
> : josh
> :
> :
>
>



Posted by Steve Scott on March 20, 2007, 10:24 am
I should probably take SM off my kill filter. Some of his posts are
just too funny.

FWIW, Chris, a steam system is about as efficient as any other 80%+
boiler in the dead of winter. Much less efficient in the spring or
fall. Why might that be?


>> If I had to take a really wild guess. It's cause steam needs to
>> be heated to a higher temp than hot water. 250 instead of 140 or
>> so. What happens, is that with a steam system the exhaust gaseses
>> up the flue are hotter.
>>
>> With a 90 % efficiency hot air furnace, the flue gasses are so
>> cold they won't rise (naturally) up a masonry chimney.
>
>
>Does hot air not rise in your part of the country?
>
>You just showed that you have NO CLUE as to WHY a 90+% furnace is induced
>draft.
>
>
>> A lot of the efficiency factor comes from extracting more heat
>> from the exhaust, and sending colder exhaust out. I've not seen a
>> 90+ efficiency fuel oil furnace. Oil versus gas, well, it depends
>> on the design of the furnace. I've seen some gas furnaces that
>> are (probably) 60 or 60% efficient. But I've never seen a 90+ oil
>> furnace.


--
You could be replaced by an infinite
number of monkeys.





Posted by DIMwit on March 20, 2007, 6:21 pm
correction: 1 or 2 monkeys at most.

It would take an infinite number of monkeys to replace ME :-)

Bob


>I should probably take SM off my kill filter. Some of his posts are
> just too funny.
>
> FWIW, Chris, a steam system is about as efficient as any other 80%+
> boiler in the dead of winter. Much less efficient in the spring or
> fall. Why might that be?
>
>
>>> If I had to take a really wild guess. It's cause steam needs to
>>> be heated to a higher temp than hot water. 250 instead of 140 or
>>> so. What happens, is that with a steam system the exhaust gaseses
>>> up the flue are hotter.
>>>
>>> With a 90 % efficiency hot air furnace, the flue gasses are so
>>> cold they won't rise (naturally) up a masonry chimney.
>>
>>
>>Does hot air not rise in your part of the country?
>>
>>You just showed that you have NO CLUE as to WHY a 90+% furnace is induced
>>draft.
>>
>>
>>> A lot of the efficiency factor comes from extracting more heat
>>> from the exhaust, and sending colder exhaust out. I've not seen a
>>> 90+ efficiency fuel oil furnace. Oil versus gas, well, it depends
>>> on the design of the furnace. I've seen some gas furnaces that
>>> are (probably) 60 or 60% efficient. But I've never seen a 90+ oil
>>> furnace.
>
>
> --
> You could be replaced by an infinite
> number of monkeys.
>
>
>
>



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