Heat not keeping up with thermostat

Brownstoners: I would love your thoughts here. This morning at 8am, my thermostat indicated a room temperature of 65, whereas it was set to go to 71 starting at 6am.  The rest of the morning, the radiators were alternating between tepid and very warm.  By the time I left the house at 9, it was 66 degrees.  At the middle of the night, the thermostat is set to 65, at 4am it goes to 68  (one of my upstairs tenants has an early job), and at 6am it goes to 71.  The thermostat sits in probably the warmest part of the apartment: smack in the middle, not near any windows.  This isn’t the first time I noticed a lag between the actual temperature and set temperature, but this is the first time it’s been so drastic and, technically, violating minimum heating standards for my tenants.  It’s a hot water heating system and a plumber replaced a faulty pressure gage a few months ago. Advice?

NewOwner

in Heating 13 years and 6 months ago

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eman134 | 13 years and 6 months ago

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also check for a failing pump or pumps, blown or undersized expansion tank, failed zone valves or flow check valves…if you want me to give you an assessment pro bono, my contact info is on my profile…sounds like a ciculation problem to me

NewOwner | 13 years and 6 months ago

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Thanks, everyone!  I’ll call a plumber to do a more comprehensive assessment, per Master Plvmber.  I have bled the radiators, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Bklnite | 13 years and 6 months ago

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“…you’re nowhere near the legal minimum heating requirements for your tenants..”  ?? In the middle of the night there’s plenty of margin (it’s only 55 degrees that’s required from 10PM to 6AM), but she says “… at 8am, my thermostat indicated a room temperature of 65…at 9, it was 66 degrees…” so she’s right that she’s not quite meeting the “between 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM … the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees” part of the deal.

Master Plvmber | 13 years and 6 months ago

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It sounds like you’re not delivering enough heat to the system quickly enough to keep up with the heat loss of the building. There are a bunch of things a heating technician will need to check, like the difference between the temperatures of the pipes immediately entering and exiting the boiler, the incoming gas volume/pressure, approximate flow rate of each zone, aquastat response to high and low limit, etc. And you’re nowhere near the legal minimum heating requirements for your tenants, so don’t let that freak you out. Me:

http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/gatewayplumbing

daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 6 months ago

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I’ve recently had minor issues with the thermostat as well.  Occasionally the furnace (gas forced air) takes longer to kick on after the temp drops 3 degrees or so from the thermostat setting.  it’s digital so these delays shouldn’r be occurring, right?

Bklnite | 13 years and 6 months ago

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I agree that it’s worth checking if you need to bleed air out. When I had a hw system with radiators I also had a small key – start from the top floor, radiator furthest from the heater and open the valve to let any air out; close it when you get water. Work backwards from longest run to shortest run, upstairs to downstairs. It’s fricken cold out & your system is not keeping up with the heat loss – not too surprising when it’s in the teens. Solutions are more heat from your system and/or better insulation to keep the heat in – seal up drafts anywhere you can: doors, windows, electrical outlets. If you had a guy that recently did a repair, I’d call him back and describe the lag heating up. If the heater is not working as it should (assuming the heaters and your radiators have sufficient capacity to give you the heat you need) then you should get him back to get to the root of the problem, or consider shopping around for another plumbing/heating guy if he’s not up to the task.

housepoor | 13 years and 6 months ago

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It does take a while for temperatures to change once heat turns on and, well, its been really cold out. I just had to purge the air in my hot water system when one zone was consistently tepid. After that the hot water flowed when the thermostat called for it. On our baseboards there is a  valve at each end. It opens (with a small key) to let the air out. Perhaps some air was introduced into the system when the new gage was installed?