heat won't reach top floor
The hot-water heat in our 3 story house isn’t reaching the top floor at all. I’ve tried bleeding the radiators of air, but that hasn’t worked. Each time I do it, you can hear the air escape, but water never comes out. And they are stone cold, while the radiators on the first 2 floors…
The hot-water heat in our 3 story house isn’t reaching the top floor at all. I’ve tried bleeding the radiators of air, but that hasn’t worked. Each time I do it, you can hear the air escape, but water never comes out. And they are stone cold, while the radiators on the first 2 floors are nice and toasty. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Master Plvmber, are you out there?
My home never warms up enough to be comfortable
I live in a three story house with 9ft ceilings, I have a water heating system, it does not heat the house the higher temperature only reaches 60 in the first floor and in the second is just dead cold! I was told that this system was installed with the cold water going in where the hot water is supposed to go in and that I need a new heating system because the one I have is damaged and that is the reason why it doesn’t work properly. ( is about ten years old) Then a friend suggested to drain the system and bleed the radiators which I never done it in the last five or six years…I was told that it was not necessary by the same person that want to replace the existing heating system…
Please help me Master Plvmber
just a follow up the the previous post
my system has a 30 psi over flow and inlet
valve at what min pressure should the inlet valve let water into the system
i can be on the top floor and open the
bleed valve on one of the rads
the air will bleed off all the pressure
and go quiet i will then have to open
a valve in the bacement to let water into
the system is this normal.
i have a six unit building with a gas fired
water rad system old style with cast rads
the building is three stories and
the top floor i keep getting air filling
the rads about 1/4 of the rad is air
I have let the air out 4 or 5 times
now, drained the cushion tank and had to
let water into the system every time i
have to get the air out of the rads
on the top floor. I have delt with these systems befor but do not have any idea where
the air is comming from it just refills
after i bleed the rads.
I did drain the system in the summer
did refill it properly and bleed the rads
any ideas would help.
Hello,
My plumber showed me a couple of years ago the valve for letting water into the boiler, but I can’t find it. I thought it would be so obvious once I was in the furnace room, but I can’t see it!
What should I look for? I seem to remember it being high up. I looked along the piping, but can’t see it.
It is probably the easiest thing, but I am overlooking it.
Thanks,
Proudfoot
Toronto, ON, CND
Thanks Master Plvmber! (Even though you emailed me detailed instructions already). Just so folks know, this is why Master Plvmber’s company, Gateway Plumbing & Heating, is the best around. They actually care about helping people! The top quality workmanship doesn’t hurt either.
And no I don’t work for them, I am just amazed that 2 years after hiring them, Master Plvmber will still take the time to give me detailed help.
Sorry, folks. I went away for a few days and just got back.
…there’s never a *good* time, is there?
One of the posters above mentioned adding water to your hot water boiler to raise the pressure.
That was correct.
You need to do that, or you need to have the valve replaced that used to do that automatically.
Your heating system needs to be full of water from bottom to top. It takes one pound of pressure in the boiler-mounted gauge to every 2.36 feet of height to the system. So if the boiler is in the cellar and the highest radiator is 30 feet above it on the top floor, the pressure gauge must read at least 12.71 psi when cold.
Make it somewhere between 13-15 and you’ll be in good shape.
Your system also has a tank about the size of one of those BBQ propane tanks attached to it that absorbs the pressure the water exerts on the pipes when heated. The pressure in that has to be adjusted to match the pressure in the system or it will be ineffective in its job protecting the system and boiler.
in my case it was air in the piping up to the 3rd floor. my plumber asked me to open the pressure valve to let more water into the boiler after opening the drain valve for that loop. then wait for water to start draining from the open drain valve. (i guess he was too lazy to come out for that)
I had this problem last year during the fall, when the weather was not very cold – i.e. not cold enough to keep the boiler working for long periods of time. My downstairs duplex would get warm and the temperature would register on the thermostat in my apartment, but the boiler would not stay on long enough to get the heat to go to the upper floors. My tenants were cold! I had John Hlad come over and he told me that I had the wrong valves downstairs. I needed slow valves which made the boiler stay on longer to heat up my apartment, and fast valves on the upper floors. That fixed the problem which does not exist during the really cold months since the boiler stays on much longer, allowing the heat move completely through the system.
I had this problem last year, it turned out that my boiler was cracked and most of the heat was going up the chimney. There simply was not enought heat to get to the 4th floor although the other floors were fine.