Adding radiators

[Odie9]

I have a house with an oil boiler and steam heat. It is single pipoe as there is no return line back to the boiler. I am using the garage under the house for a wood working shop and want to be able to heat it. As there will be fine dust in the air as well as fumes from finishing agents I would like to add radiators as opposed to putting in a gas heater or something. The boiler is in the next room from where my workshop is, so it is on the same level as the garage where I want to add the radiators.

I have two questions:

We heat mainly with a wood stove so the boiler os turned off almost all of the time with the exception of when we are out of town. I would like to be able to put a shut off of sometime in the lines basically creating a zone for the garage that is completely seperate from the rest of the house so that I can put in another thermostat and run the boiler for the workshop only. How do I go about this with a steam system and more importantly can I add the radiators to the garage at all? Where is the best place to tie them into the system? Also can I use baseboard heaters for the garage or do I need to find cast iron ones like the rest of the system. The garage is about 14' by 20' and has one exterior wall that is stone. I am in CT so it gets pretty cold.

Guess it turned into more than a couple of questions, sorry. Any help greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[KField]

It may not be a DIY but you can decide. You can easily use water from the bottom of the boiler to heat (with hot water) any area at or below the water level of the boiler. It can be done for zones above but not easily. You would need to find a tapping on your boiler for supply and return water and then add a circulating pump and the radiation for your zone. The thermostat can control the circulator and if you usually don't have the boiler hot, you can have the relay start the boiler through an aquastat that would keep water hot but not making steam. You would want to avoid running the pipes overhead anywhere if you want to keep the job simple.

Ken

[Odie9]

Would the tappings be under the covers of the boiler? The steam outlet comes out of the boiler on the back at the bottom and runs up to the other pipes that run to the rediators. There is a pipe about half way up on the back that has an elbow and cap attached to it as well, there is also what I assume to be an overflow at the front that comes out near the top and runs down to near the floor with an open ended pipe. Thanks for the response.

Odie

[KField]

The jacket won't cover any of the tappings you need. You may have to take out the drain valve and add a tee to get a bottom fitting. The one on the back sounds like a good place to connect. As long as it is below the water line of the boiler you can use it.

Ken