Any experts on heating systems? (hot water baseboard, insulated, installed, bedroom)
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The place I rent has an oil-fired, hot water baseboard system, with two zones, up and down. Upstairs zone works fine. Downstairs has a problem, intermittent, where the heating does not keep up with the setting on the thermostat. The baseboards are warm but I do not hear them cycling on and off they way they do upstairs (clanking noises as metal parts expand).
The thermostat has been replaced and that did not solve the problem. Someone I know who is somewhat handy, thinks it may be the circulator pump but can't figure out the "intermittent" aspect. (Sometimes everything works fine, sometimes it doesn't.)
I am trying to get the property management company to do something and they are looking for easy answers. There is a kitchen area that does not have BB heat, in a greenhouse type enclosure on an uninsulated deck (brilliant design, I know). When the heat is working properly, the kitchen is about 10 degrees cooler than the main part, probably because it is down 3 steps. You can definitely feel the division as you step from a cooler to warmer area, I don't believe there is much mixing of the air. The kitchen has electric BB heat which I am reluctant to use as I like to keep my electric bill down. The heating "expert" tried to say the oil heat would work properly if I ran the electric BB. I have to keep telling them, it works FINE at times and STOPS working fine at other times.
Any suggestions? I do not have access to the heating system, it is in a different part of the building (duplex). TIA
I never worked professionally in HVAC, but I'll take a crack at it.
From what I gather, the system has an oil fired boiler, and the upstairs zone is working fine. So, it's probably not the boiler. I'd like to know the temperature of the boiler though.
Often, there is only one circulator pump for such a system. Again, since the upstairs is working it's probably not the circulator pump. I say probably not because there could still be flow from convection. The zone valve opens... and the hot water rises to the upper floor. As it cools in the baseboard is flows back down to the boiler even with no circulator, just slower. This however doesn't explain the intermittentness of it; unless the pump is intermittent.
My first question is, where is the thermostat located? Is it in the sun sometimes? If the sun shines on the thermostat it will warm up and tell the boiler; no heat is needed. Also the electric baseboard might warm up the thermostat enough to shut off the hydronic baseboard.
Could be an intermittent zone valve; or it might not be opening all the way.
Finally, there may be air in the system preventing proper flow.
I'm sure there's things I haven't thought of... since I'm not a professional.
The place I rent has an oil-fired, hot water baseboard system, with two zones, up and down.
Upstairs zone works fine. Downstairs has a problem...
I do not have access to the heating system...
Any suggestions?
Talk to your landlord about the problem.
Send him something in writing about it too.
Someone needs to isolate the upstairs set of valve/pump controls and turn that off.
Then see how the downstairs works without competing.
Fix whatever shows up (bleeding/balancing/etc)
Call your landlords-
There's no reason for you to diagnose the system; let alone try and fix it. You may dig yourself a deeper hole.
Stay after the landlord/HVAC contractor to get it working properly- assuming that it is in fact not working properly. And if needed, you can always rattle the "tenant laws" saber at them.
The place I rent has an oil-fired, hot water baseboard system, with two zones, up and down. Upstairs zone works fine. Downstairs has a problem, intermittent, where the heating does not keep up with the setting on the thermostat.
....
Any suggestions? I do not have access to the heating system, it is in a different part of the building (duplex). TIA
We had a similar problem last winter and found it was due to a faulty zone valve. I'm quoting part of my previous post in the hobbies forum.
Quote:
Two weeks later, there was no heat in the main bedroom. We quickly identified the problem to a faulty hotwater zone valve but it took few days to get the replacement part. The local dealer has it but at the full list price of $250 before tax. We order it online for $114 and $7 shipping (no tax). We did not pay for express shipping because we had been managing the problem with a space heater but was pleasantly surprised to see the zone valve was shipped by 2-day priority shipping.
My internet search indicated that the most likely fail area was in the motor part of the zone valve and not the valve itself. So we just unhooked the old motor part, hooked the new one in, connected all the wirings and it worked! This saved a lot of work in trying to remove/replace the old valve from the hot water pipe (something a plumber might have done and just charged big bucks for the labor). A slight problem was that the new zone valve wire connection part is completely different from the old one. By labeling all the old wirings, drawing the connections and reading the wiring diagram, it was a simple task to rewire all the electrical connections from the thermostat, transformer and neighbor zone valve to the new one.
I would suggest you to insist the property management company to identify and fix the problem.
a. Make sure that the lower zone is properly air-bled (there should not be air in the pipes)
b. Zone valve (if the thermostat has been replaced already, but make sure it was installed properly). Is it a 2-lead or 3-lead thermostat?
Thanks all. I am not trying to fix it myself. I have been communicating with the property mgr. all along (email) and trying to prove to them it is not just the cold weather, or my not running the electric heat in the kitchen.
Just got an email, the HVAC people are coming today, "Won't be prepared to do a service, but will bring circulator and zone valve." I have no idea what that means.
"Won't be prepared to do a service, but will bring circulator and zone valve."
I have no idea what that means.
service is the annual clean/check/adjust it should have had in October.
Circulator (pump) and zone valve (up vs down) are the components most likely to need replacement
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