"Vito Cavallo" wrote in message
...

I have an old 1920's house with a big old rectangle oil furnace. The
system
is steam heat. The furnace is about 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 6 feet
long. House is 2 floors (plus finished attic), 1400 sqft.

When my furnace turns on, it takes about 1 1/2 hours before I hear steam
hissing through my radiators and feel heat. I have 9 radiators in my
house.
House is uninsulated, but will be soon.

Is this too long of a time for a furnace to burn before I can feel heat?
What is a normal range before I should get heat? I live in Boston and
went
through 700 gallons of oil last winter ( very cold last year).

You don't have a furnace, you have a boiler. 700 gallons is not bad for an
average size house in your area. I'm 70 miles from you and burn that much
in a well insulated 2000 sq. ft. house.

Yes, 90 minutes is much too long to hear steam. There could be a couple of
problems. First, the burner must be firing at capacity. No restrictions on
the oil flow, no clogs in the flue.

Next is the water level. Steam boilers must have some head space at the top
of the heating drum for the steam. It should NOT be over filled and have
water in the pipes. Overfilling can occur if the feed vale has a slight
leak by and over the summer, it seeped in and filled the system. That would
make the boiler heat all the water and bubbles of steam would have to work
there way to the top to work properly. Is there a sight glass to show water
level? If you see nothing, it is either empty or overfilled. Either
condition is bad.

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, call a pro. You don't want to
take chances with a steam boiler. They are perfectly save, provide
excellent heat, but must be maintained.