Heating quandry
Hello Brownstoners, Looking for a little advice on two possible fixes for my heating system. We have a forced hot water system. It appears that the valve that regulates the flow of hot water through the system is broken so, when the thermostat says the heat should turn off, it doesn’t–water flows through all of…
Hello Brownstoners,
Looking for a little advice on two possible fixes for my heating system. We have a forced hot water system. It appears that the valve that regulates the flow of hot water through the system is broken so, when the thermostat says the heat should turn off, it doesn’t–water flows through all of the radiators in the front of the house all the time and it can take hours for the rest of the radiators to cool down.
Our boiler guy has given us two options. Option one—change the valve which according to him is a fairly labor intensive plumbing job and could run about $700. Or, put in a relay on the boiler that will turn off the boiler when the thermostat switches off and turn it on when the thermostat switches on. This will cost about $350. Our concern is that since this system works like a hot water heater—a huge vat of water is kept hot all the time and then gets pumped through the system when needed—that our bills will go through the roof if every time the thermostat switches the heat on it needs to heat up that whole vat of water. Also, I’m not convinced this will totally fix the problem since what’s to keep the cooling but still hot water from circulating through the system. On the other hand who wants to spend $350 they don’t have to.
If anyone’s had this kind of problem or is a plumbing/boiler expert, I’d appreciate any advice you’ve got.
Thanks.
Hi all, thanks for the advice.
Master Plumber: I was going on the diagnosis that my boiler guy gave me (well my interpretation of it and since I don’t know much about boilers there is plenty of room for error there) but when I got through to the plumber we use and basically described the above scenario, he scratched his head kind of like you did. So, maybe its something else? Though the flow check valve that you mentioned sounds like that could be it. Our system is pretty ancient but for the most part has been functional and reliable. I’m sure we’re overdue for an upgrade, but I’m reluctant to spend the money on a new bioler until we really need it.
Our guy will be over on Wed or so to take a look so I’ll post an update once I find out what the issue is.
Thanks.
Check out this plumbing forum. They are extremely helpful.
http://www.plbg.com/forum/list.php?1
I’m nearly at a loss.
I’m wondering what kind of valve you have there that “regulates the flow of hot water through the system”.
If it’s what I think it is, a flow-check valve, then it is a purely mechanical device which should have no connection to the thermostat’s electrical circuit and the boiler turning on and off.
If it fails, however, it could allow water to flow by gravity out of the boiler and up into the system until all the water has cooled.
On the other hand it could be a zone valve that needs to be changed.
Changing a pain-in-the-neck zone valve could be a $700 job, I guess, but most of the time you can get away with rebuilding them.
Either way, it sounds like you’ve got an old system that could use some upgrading and you should consider whether or not it’s worth applying such a costly band aid.
I don’t know. A picture would be very helpful.
OP: I agree that insight from Master Plvmber would be invaluable. Other than that, my approach is quite different from what yours seems to be. For me the question is why pay $350 for a temporary fix that might add several hundreds to your heating bills when “only” $350 more would provide a permanent, better solution? I’m not dismissing $350 as a significant investment, but assuming these two options are the right options, and the difference in cost is “only” $350, I would absolutely choose a solution that addresses the origin of the problem, rather than it’s symptoms.
Wait for MasterPlumber to respond…or better yet, just call him at Gateway…the number is on the ad just to the right of your Forum post