Zoned heat system a failure
Hi – We had zoned heating installed when we renovated our SOuth Slope house, beginning in March of last year. We get the heat on shortly AFTER winter began (another story for another rant . . . ) but the zones still aren’t working properly. Has anyone been through this before who can speak to how simple/not simple it is to ge ta zoned heat system working properly? We have 7 zones across the three floors. Per the plumbers recommendation. The loops seem to operate together instead of individually, and we need to open windows to keep some areas from broiling, while other areas are always cold. Just wondering if my plumber is totally off the wall or is this always such a trial and error process? THanks
elm_bk
in Heating and Cooling 11 years and 2 months ago
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8 replies
shahnandersen
in Heating and Cooling 11 years and 2 months ago
When you hired heating contractor, was it the same plumber who did your bathrooms? Was it more affordable?
steam_man | 11 years and 2 months ago
Elm, You have a hydronic system (hot water). It sounds like your plumber did a good job of the plumbing but a poor job of the electrical. It doesn’t make him/her a bad plumber, just a bad electrician which in and of itself is alright. What is needed here is a combined, systematic approach. It sounds to me like you have some wiring issues with a maybe a slight overheating issue that could be plumbing related. We won’t know until the controls are sorted out first. My approach would be to have the electrician first trace all the t-stats back to the zone controller and make sure the right pumps are turning on at the right times. Priorities should be set up for your domestic water and radiant if necessary. Once that is done your plumber can balance the flows at the manifold and make sure you have the right amount of water going to where it should go. Then your system will be set up as it was meant to be. Your are going to be stressed, granted, but if you stay on top of these guys in the end it will be a great system. Good luck and let us know if you need anything. -SM.
eman134 | 11 years and 2 months ago
definitely miswired someone will have to identify all the wires bak to the zonevalves and correct the wireout
elm_bk | 11 years and 2 months ago
Thanks for all your thoughts so far. To clarify (as best I can!) — we have forced steam heat (possibly forced hot water, how can I tell?) – with radiators in most rooms. It’s a two-family house on three floors — the ground floor has a guest room associated with the upper duplex, but not used very often, and a rental studio. The middle floor (parlor) has a thoermostate that controls the back — kitchen/den/dining room, and one for the front – living room. and also one for the entrance/hall, that seems to also control the entrance/hall for the basement floor (which is a tiny enclosed area and feels like a sauna). The third floor has a thermostate front and back, which each control the wide and the narrow rooms at front and back. (eg MBR/office, kids room/spare room). We don’t have radiant flooring except in the guets bathroom on the basement floor, because it was too small to fit a radiator but very cold. What I mean by operating together is that so far we’ve discovered a few different regions were being controlled by one of the thermostats from the other. EG the master bedroom kept pumping out heat if the parlor hall was turned on, even when the MBR was hotter than the temp on the thermostat. Now, even with the MBR loop turned off altogether, it stills stays warm all the time, and coinsistently hotter than the set point on the thermostat. Same for the living room. The plumber has sent his electrician and crew several times, but it seems like no one talks to each other and no one knows what’s going on. I just wanted to get a reality check if a job like this should be anticipated to be so complicated/difficult to trouble shoot, or if maybe my plumber is totally out to lunch. thanks!
eman134 | 11 years and 2 months ago
sounds like your zone valves are not working properly…some are stuk in the hold open postion and others are not opening at all
Master Plvmber | 11 years and 2 months ago
7 zones is not unusual in today’s renovations. Especially where multiple bathrooms, or tenants, are involved.
http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/gatewayplumbing
The problems that arise with new multi-zone systems are most often electrical. Most plumbers don’t know how to wire them correctly and many electricians don’t want to work with low-voltage controls. Yet, it falls to one of them to make it work. A good “heating plumber” will have an electrical specialty that picks up where electricians leave off, after the line voltage (120v) to the boiler’s on/off switch. If you can post a pic of the piping above the boiler and some random shots, I may be able to get some idea of what’s going on, but most likely you’ll need your plumber to figure it out and perhaps get him to hire an electrician to get him past the problems if he can’t do it himself.
nyc_sport | 11 years and 2 months ago
7 zones sounds odd unless there is radiant heat/kick heaters, etc. involved. When you say the loops operate together, in what way? It is doubtful that there is seven separate pumps on your boiler. Radiant systems typically have a mixing valve that distributes hot water to the zones that call for it from a single hot water inlet — the thermostats open or close valves to the zones. So, you need to say what yuou mean by operating together, and what is the problem (i.e., are the zones not being temp controlled in accordance with the thermostats?)
daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 2 months ago
Sounds bizarre. What type of heat is it? Forced air, baseboard, radiator, water, steam??? Sounds like baseboard hot water. Do you also have toe kick heaters installed and radiant flooring?