WARNING -- Beware of Radiant heat in a cold climate

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by cully

All of this is fascinating. Around us are beautiful large newer homes with radiant heat and only tile floor.

Also, just a little further out are the heated floors...heated by wood burned in a stove in a shed a few yards from the house. A lot of work so early, I thought. Shoveling snow before daybreak to get to that shed to replenish wood. But, these are farmers and horse people who are already up early and used to hard work.

I would love to have that set up. We have a virtually unlimited supply of wood.

[Nancyo110]

I am hoping to still catch you here on this thread since you seem to have experience with your own system. I have a Weil McLane Ultra 155 boiler with half radiant and half baseboard in my house. The radiant is on the main floor (in the ceiling joists of the basement ceiling) We used black onyx tubing. I have ceramic tile and hardwood flooring on that floor. The upper level where the bedrooms are have baseboard. I have had this system since 2007 and it has always given me an issue here and there but his frigid weather I am having a new problem.

Last Feb I had my heat exchanger replaced and the heat season was ok. No complaints really. These past two weeks here in NY have been exceptionally cold. My system has not been abke to even meet the normal demand of my thermostats which ranges from 65-68 during the day. I set it at a steady 70 to see if it made a difference and it didnt. My boiler has been running non-stop where I ran out of propane yesterday. I realized it at about 5:00 am. I know that I had no gas for many hours and the temp in the house fell to about 53. I got gas around 10:30 am and everything kicked on but struggled on the main floor. I ran space heaters all day to help it be bearable in the house.

This morning I woke uo to a 48 degrees downstairs. It's worse than yesterday. I have to add that here and there the one zone that feeds my kids rooms baseboards acts up and they have no heat, even though the thermostat is working. I adjusted the setting on the boiler from 180 outlet temp to 190 to see if that helps.

I am single and in a major pinch at the moment. This is happening at a time when I really cannot call a plumber. I am desperate for help and suggestions.

Appreciative,
Nancy

[dcfas]

Bump. Anyone help this person out?

[LIcenter]

Gonna need some photos so the pros here can see what you have.
Zone valves
Radiant heat manifold
Circulator pumps
And a good general photo of the boiler

First thought is at least one circuit is not working, which could be a circulator pump, or a zone valve.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Nancyo110

I have a Weil McLane Ultra 155 boiler with half radiant and half baseboard in my house. The radiant is on the main floor (in the ceiling joists of the basement ceiling) We used black onyx tubing. I have ceramic tile and hardwood flooring on that floor. The upper level where the bedrooms are have baseboard. I have had this system since 2007 and it has always given me an issue here and there but his frigid weather I am having a new problem.

That's a smaller boiler, it's difficult to say how big a boiler should be without a heat loss calculation but how big is your house? Is it newer or has it had adequate insulation/windows installed? If it's older 2000+ sq ft. home, older windows and little or no insulation it's unlikely that size boiler is going to keep up. If it's just running and running that's a pretty good indicator it's too small.

I know you said you adjusted the high limit but you should have an indicator on there what the actual water temperature is inside thew boiler. What is it?