I checked The Lost Art of Steam Heat out from the library because our house has a steam-heat system and it’s working, but not exactly correctly. We’ve had a repair guy out numerous times, but he hasn’t quite fixed the rather complex system, and I wanted to understand a bit more so I could communicate with him about it.
Holohan’s book does an excellent job of explaining the physics and engineering of steam heating to lay people. These systems really are a lost art – the people who designed and installed them were very capable engineers, and every system in every house was by nature somewhat different, and required it’s own planning and calculations to build and repair.
It’s not surprising that today’s repair people don’t understand how delicately balanced steam heating is, and how to identify what the problems are.
The Lost Art of Steam Heat
by Dan Holohan
Non-Fiction
Incredibly useful for owners of steam heating systems.
Book Review – The Lost Art of Steam Heat
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there’s apparently an old repair man here in durham who understands steam heat, all my neighbors with 1930’s era systems use him. i’m sure you already have– but if not– check with your neighbors, who knows, maybe they know a guy.
How cool. I don’t have steam heat, but I love reading about how things work. I’ll have to put that on the reading list.
Hello my name is Bob Cvilikas from RI. I am currently working on a Steam Boiler in a church and the problem is that the radiators do not have much heat coming from them, so we’re trying to find out what the problem is. The steam boiler is a one pipe system. Do you have any suggestions for this problem?
Please write back as soon as you can. I appreciate your help. Have a Happy Holiday.
Bob
I don’t hve much insight on them, Bob, but I’d highly recommend getting ahold of the books I mentioned in the post – that might help a lot.