i don't want to bother my landlords right now, for their sake. They are having a hard time this Xmas. but i'm freezing. There has been many problems and many plumbers walking through my space...

here's my thing...

i live in a small 10 unit apt.
the baseboard heaters in my bedroom work fine.
the baseboard heater in my living room is not giving out heat.
the pipes are hot, the vent is not.
i cleaned under the baseboard heater to make sure nothing was preventing the airflow.

can i adjust something in the pipes? the plumbers always seem to be messing around in there. I have felt warmth before in my living room..

 

Did I get you right? The pipes are hot into and out of the L/R baseboard (which is what I believe you here call the "vent"), but the baseboard itself is cold? Please confirm.

Does the baseboard have perhaps a bypass line and a 3-way thermostatic valve installed?

 

While I understand your empathy for your landlords, I just want to remind that the heating system isn't your property, so 'tread lightly'... you really shouldn't do anything to it, because after all, it is the landlords responsibility...

that said...

What do you mean 'the vent is not' ? you mean where the air comes out ? or are you talking about an 'air vent' ? Is this possibly a STEAM system ?

 

the thermostat for my building is right outside my door. There are no knobs on the baseboard, just pipes and bolts. Yes the pipes are hot, the baseboard cover is not hot. it's not completely cold, it does feel slightly warm to the touch, but it's not emitting heat at all. i called the cover a vent (only because you can adjust it closed. it's hot in my neighbours apartments...but not mine.

i assumed that if i adjusted one of the bolts (which i guess u might call a valve) but i don't know if that will do anything.

 

Could you post a picture of this baseboard?

It puzzles me to read that the pipes in and out of it are hot but the baseboard is not (unless I'm not understanding you correctly)

The only thing that could cause a baseboard to stay cold if the pipe feeding it is steamy hot is if the fins have been removed and all you have is the shell (the cover), let's call it a "make-believe" baseboard...but such is extremely unlikely.

 

As much as you don't want to, unfortunately I would say that you should let the landlord handle this. It sounds to me as though there may be air in the system that would need to be bled out. I believe a heating technician would be best suited to do that for you.

 

thanks for trying guys! i think i will just wait until the new year to bug them. I found a space heater in the meanwhile to keep me warm.

but for your info...yes the pipes both in and out are hot, but the baseboard cover, and the element-y looky thingy is not hot..just slightly warm. i'm afraid it might blow up if i do anything so, i will just wait.

Happy New Year!

 

Anybody know what this is? At least now we have some sort of clue here. Nothing like a good mystery.

 

One thing you can do is to remove the baseboard cover & use a brush & vacuum cleaner to get lint, pet hair, etc. out of the fins. If the fins are mashed the baseboard will not work properly either.

 

Funny. I am having the same exact problem with my system (50 year old Cape). I feel hot water coming and leaving each hot water baseboard, yet the registers themselves are lukewarm at best. Days like today (5 degrees) it can't heat the house (though I heat with wood under normal circumstances). I've had this problem since I bought house 2 years ago. Prior to my purchasing, the previous owner installed a new Weil McClain gold boiler. I was the first to use it. His brother did the work (non plumber) and I have since found a problem with the zoning controls (have 2 zones, system was only setup to use 1 zone so was heating both levels). I got that fixed hoping it would solve my problem (I had thought maybe the system was under too much strain since it was forced to heat the whole house every time??) . But, that didn't have any effect at all except that the zones work correctly now. As I said, I have 2 zones each with their own circ pump. Tonight I am going to check temps with an infared heat gun to check temps in and out of baseboards and supply out/in to boiler. Maybe the circ fans aren't working or are low flow?? I did try to clean all the baseboards last winter when I had my floors redone, thinking the fins were all gunked up causing my issue. But..you guessed it, no difference. Any one have any ideas of things I could check? Air? (though I hear no banging or noises) Circ pump? Bad thermostat gauge on boiler? Thanks

 

Infared guns do not work well on copper pipe unless you paint the pipe with flat black paint.
Are your floors carpeted? If so, how much air gap is there between the carpet & the bottom of the baseboard?