Most of this city is still heated by steam, and almost nobody services it properly
Heating, cooling and ventilation for houses, two-families and apartment buildings across Yonkers and southern Westchester — including the one-pipe steam systems that everybody else would rather replace than understand.
What we do
Steam.
One-pipe and two-pipe systems, radiators, air vents, main venting, near-boiler piping and the balancing that decides whether the far end of the building is warm. It is a specialised trade and it is disappearing, which is precisely why we lead with it.
Hot water.
Boilers, circulators, zone valves, baseboard and cast-iron radiators. Most of the buildings here that are not on steam are on this, and the faults live in the circulators and the valves far more often than in the boiler.
Forced air.
Furnaces, air handlers and ductwork where a building has it. Static pressure measured against the blower’s own rating, airflow at the register, and leakage found before capacity is added.
Cooling.
Ductless heads for buildings that were never ducted — which is most of them here — and central air where the ductwork exists and can carry it. Sizing that accounts for a Westchester summer rather than for a catalogue.
Buildings.
Two-families, small apartment buildings, co-ops and the shops beneath them. Scheduled maintenance with a written record, and the boiler-room documentation that a managing agent can actually hand to somebody else.
Why steam gets replaced when it should be fixed
Because it is loud.
Banging pipes are the commonest complaint and the most misunderstood. Water hammer is condensate sitting where steam wants to travel, and it is almost always a pitch problem in a pipe or a radiator rather than a fault in the boiler.
Because it is uneven.
One end of a building roasts while the other never warms. That is a venting problem — the air has to get out before the steam can get in — and it is solved by sizing vents, not by buying a bigger boiler.
Because nobody measures it.
A steam system runs at ounces of pressure, not pounds. A pressure control set high wastes fuel, drives water into the mains and causes half the symptoms on this page, and it takes minutes to check.
Because replacing it pays better.
We will say that plainly. A correctly vented, correctly pitched, correctly pressured steam system is a comfortable and durable way to heat a building, and it is worth having somebody look at yours before anybody quotes to tear it out.
The valve and the air vent. Between them they explain most of what a steam radiator does.
Three things we will not tell you
- That your steam system is obsolete. It is old, which is not the same word. Where a system is genuinely finished we will say so and explain what would replace it; where it needs venting and pitch, we will say that instead, and it is the smaller job.
- What percentage you will save. Correct pressure and correct venting genuinely reduce fuel use. What that is worth depends on your building, your fuel and your tenants, so the figure comes after we have seen it.
- How fast we will get there. We will tell you honestly where you are in the queue and call you back. A guaranteed number of hours gets broken on the first properly cold night, which is exactly when you would be relying on it.
Common questions
My radiators bang. Does that mean a new boiler?
Almost never. Water hammer is condensate sitting where steam wants to travel, and at a single radiator it is nearly always pitch — the radiator or its pipe has settled and no longer drains back the way the steam came in. Shimming it is often the whole repair.
One end of the building never gets warm. Why?
Main venting, in most cases. Air has to be pushed out of the steam mains before steam can reach the branches, and if the main vents are missing, undersized or failed, the far end never gets its turn. Adding boiler capacity does not fix it and is an expensive way to find that out.
Can I turn a steam radiator down with the valve?
No. A steam radiator valve is either fully open or fully closed. Part way traps condensate and causes banging, and it does not moderate the heat. The correct way to slow a radiator is a smaller air vent, or a thermostatic valve designed for steam.
What pressure should a steam system run at?
Ounces, not pounds. A pressure control left at several pounds wastes fuel, drives water up into the mains and causes hissing, spitting vents and hammer throughout the building. It is the commonest expensive fault in this trade and it takes minutes to check.
My building has no ducts. Can I get air conditioning?
Yes, but not through the heating, because there is nothing to connect it to. That means ductless heads, a small-duct system, or building ducts in, which in a house like this is mostly carpentry. If two rooms are the problem, two heads is usually the honest answer.
Which areas do you cover?
Yonkers, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Hastings-on-Hudson, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle.
Yonkers and southern Westchester
17 Main St, Yonkers, NY 10701. We cover Yonkers, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Hastings-on-Hudson, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle.
Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 4.30pm.