Those Beautiful Old Radiators

Hi Tom,

Don't you have forced air on the first floor and forced water w/baseboards on the second floor in your house? How did you decide on that system? I really don't want baseboards in our public areas ... but we are paying 4K a year to barely heat this house with our steam system. Ugh. 

Maybe you can do a blog on heating systems, ugly radiators and our love of these old steam radiators. Whatever we do, I think I  want to keep our beautiful radiators as decorative pieces... has anyone ever done that?  they make great tables with their covers on them. Very eclectic :)

Let’s see if I can convert this question into a design blog. I think I can as in my profession as a designer, I seem to get this type of question all the time. And if you have read my blog or hired me to design for you, then you know my approach is always from practicality and prudence as well as aesthetics. 

I’d like to put aside the aesthetic question first and focus on the practicality. Now I already had the duct system on my first floor, so I went with hydro air (more on that later). I am not a fan of steam radiators, as in my last house, for one main reason: they are so expensive when oil is $4 a gallon. Sure, I love the look too, but I hate the look of my oil bill more.

The best you can hope for to keep your attractive radiators is to convert to hot water radiators. You most likely will have to add radiation as steam uses fewer radiators. Good if you like radiators, bad if you don’t. I would recommend talking to a mechanical engineer first to make sure your system is not fixable. The boiler has to pretty much exactly match the radiator calculations. Sometimes in older houses people open up walls and add windows, etc., changes the requirements of the system. Sometimes the boiler is so old and inefficient that it can’t handle the work load.

In my opinion there isn’t a house around that has a system conducive to steam radiators. This is probably why you don’t see it in modern building techniques anymore.

Steam needs boiled water which means the boiler has to get the water up to 212 degrees. Hot water radiators and baseboard use hot water not boiled water. So the boiler does not need to heat the water to 212 degrees. My system uses a hot water pipe in the air handler which blows air over a copper coiled pipe to produce warm air. Now my one boiler heats the baseboards on the second floor and the air handler in the basement is for the forced air on the first floor.

If you have an old home and considering a new system, forced air may be too intrusive to work as the home is not designed for the ducting. Although, if you only wish to change the first floor then the ducting could remain in the basement.  In my humble opinion this is the best system as you don’t have ugly baseboards in the “public area,” and very efficient heat for you and your family on the second floor. My only loss is the beautiful radiators, which would look great in my home as it was built in 1885. You could also consider high velocity which I use a lot in Boston as there are often tight quarters and it uses small flexible ducting which can get around without massive trunks. But guess what? Expensive!

So does your home look good with radiators? Remember my blog, “Which stone do I choose?” I would imagine if you like your radiators, they are the ornamental type with beautiful claw feet and scrolled peaks (photo) and not the ones that look like this (photo). And I expect that your home is in line with the aesthetic. Remember too that there are creative ways to hide the ugly type (photo). I would question whether to make tables out of radiators. When searching for ideas in designing and decorating a home, my advice to clients is to be careful about putting a "Red Herring" into the decor. This simply means adding something that now stands out and makes even the un-trained eye become puzzled. Another way to put it is adding an odd number to a bunch of even ones. This does not mean don't be creative and be boring or monotonous. Just that you have to be careful about introducing items into the mix. Keep the crazy uncle in the basement, don't give him the master bedroom. Can I give anymore analogies? Yes, I have hundreds. Again quoting another of my blogs, "I often warn my clients not to look at each detail of their design as if they are looking through a microscope. In other words, don't focus on each decision without considering the whole."  

Back to some more practicality. You are going to incur an expense on the conversion, so my question to you would be how long do you plan on living in your house? If you are there short term then you should to talk to a real estate professional to determine if it may help re-sale. I know when my wife and I have looked for homes, she is looking at yard size, beds, baths, age of kitchen, etc. I am looking at type of heating and age. I even get into length of driveway for shoveling. No, not really. Well, maybe. 

If you plan to be there a while then it is, what I often say, “your home.” We are making design decisions for you and not some future buyer or generic owner. Do not be afraid of getting opinions from professionals. Everyone trusts their mother-in-law or their sister or the neighbor. But often they make decisions based on their home, their aesthetic, their practicality. That may not be the right advice for you. Be willing to pay someone for advice. A small expense now can pay huge rewards down the road in avoiding costly mistakes. You will often find that you won't be charged. I almost demand to pay as I don't want the incentive to be selling me a product but for the payment of the expertise.

Advice: Fix first, convert second, new system third, take pictures of your radiator and frame it fourth.