4 Room Zone, only 1 of the 3 rooms gets very hot, other 3 rooms barely get warm


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Old 01-03-11, 11:25 AM
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4 Room Zone, only 1 of the 3 rooms gets very hot, other 3 rooms barely get warm

4 Room Zone, only 1 of the 3 rooms gets very hot, other 3 rooms barely get warm.
 

Last edited by markjnj1; 01-03-11 at 01:17 PM.
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Old 01-03-11, 12:58 PM
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You could possibly have air block in that zone... or for some reason the flow is very slow...

Do you know if you have electric zone valves with one pump? Or do you have multiple pumps, one for each zone?

Maybe take some pics?

Free account / Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket / upload pics there / place link to your PUBLIC album here... we'll view and advise...

Please make sure the pics are IN FOCUS, WELL LIGHTED, LARGE ENOUGH FOR OLD DUDES TO SEE... try to get everything connected to the boiler... all the valves, etc ... take multiple angles... also, step back when done and take a few from a distance ...
 

Last edited by NJT; 01-09-11 at 03:24 PM.
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Old 01-03-11, 01:13 PM
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haha.

I'm not quite sure what we have. I'm going to see if my gf can take some pictures since I won't be back at down south till the weekend. If not I'll take some pictures when I'm down there and post back here. Thanks for your help in advance!
 
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Old 01-09-11, 02:27 PM
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The links to the pics are below. Again there are 4 rooms in the zone and one room gets very hour while the other 3 hardly get warm.
Welcome to Flickr!
Welcome to Flickr!
Welcome to Flickr!
Welcome to Flickr!
 
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Old 01-09-11, 02:34 PM
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Can you provide links to these pics that aren't flickr's mobile site?
 
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Old 01-09-11, 04:22 PM
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Whatcha mean droo? problem viewing? not here...

Mark, first thing, nothing to do with the problem at hand, but your barometric damper is improperly installed... see this PDF file, and look at Fig. 1 ... see where it says 'not here' at the top elbow? that's where yours is. That should be fixed up.

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/pdfs/DC01575700.pdf

OK, a few definitions and stuff so we all know what we're talking about:

The green thing to the left of the flue pipe is your circulator pump. It's mounted on the return pipe to the boiler. Follow that back along the wall and you have your return manifold. On each return pipe there is a PURGE STATION. There is a 1/4 turn ball valve, and above each ball valve is a drain valve.

The gray tank is your expansion tank.

The pipe coming out of the top of the boiler is your SUPPLY out of the boiler. Following that it looks as if the water fill valve is tee'd into that... then there is a gold device, a SPIROVENT, which removes air from the water. Further along is your supply manifold, and each zone has a silver electric box on it. Those boxes are your ZONE VALVES. Above each of those is a 1/4 turn ball valve.

The large blue tank is your water heater. It is probably one of your FIVE ZONES.

There are a few other bits and pieces that I didn't mention... maybe later.

So, with all that said, let's get on to your problem...

You say that only one of four rooms on one of the zones is heating... I just want to clarify this... do you know which rooms are on each zone for certain?
 
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Old 01-09-11, 04:24 PM
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One thing I should have asked before you went 'down south' to T.R.

What is the reading on the pressure AND temperature gauge on the front of the boiler?
 
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Old 01-10-11, 07:22 PM
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Thanks. Yes, the issue is that one room gets heat and the baseboards in the other rooms hardly get warm while the 1 room is hot. I have verified that the 4 rooms are on in the same zone. The tem is at 205 and at about 15 psi.
 
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Old 01-10-11, 07:31 PM
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btw, I'm new to this house thing so I know you said 5 zones. that means there should be 5 thermostats right? B/c if that's the case we've been wondering where the fifth thermostat is...
 
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Old 01-10-11, 08:05 PM
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Mark, the fifth zone is for your BoilerMate water heater. The thermostat for that is on the BoilerMate...

OK, IF (BIG IF) your gauge is to be trusted, your pressure is a bit low for the temperature you are reporting, which is a bit high.

See the gray HONEYWELL box on the front of the boiler? That is your AQUASTAT.

TURN OFF POWER TO THE BOILER, 120VAC inside that gray box! You can be KILLED!


There is one screw holding that cover on. Loosen the screw and slide the cover off and look at the temperature dial inside. If it is not on 180 already, lower it to 180.

Before doing the procedure in the next message, tell us if the zone that isn't heating is the TOP FLOOR... if it is, we might want to try something different first.

more...
 

Last edited by NJT; 01-10-11 at 08:28 PM.
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Old 01-10-11, 08:25 PM
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I am guessing a bit about the following because I can't really see the stuff behind the service tag, the valves above the boiler and such... when you get a chance, get a closer shot of those... best bet before you do the following.

For the following, TURN OFF THE BOILER AND LET IT COOL TO 100° or LESS.

In the first picture you posted, in the background behind the green service tag, there is a brown 'bell' shaped valve that feeds water into the boiler. That is your PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE. It 'regulates' the pressure in the boiler by only feeding water when needed.

On top of that valve is a 'lever'. That lever can be used to 'bypass' the regulating function of the valve. In the following steps you will be operating that lever.

Take a look all around those silver boxes. You should find a lever to manually open those valves. You will be working that lever. You also need to know WHICH of these valves controls the zone you are having problem with. Move the lever on the 'bad' zone to MANUAL OPEN.

Going back to the PURGE STATIONS mentioned previously... connect a garden hose to the drain valve on the 'bad' zone. Direct the hose to a laundry tub or floor drain or out a window. You will be moving quite a bit of water.

CLOSE THE 1/4 turn BALL VALVE BELOW THAT DRAIN VALVE.

OPEN the drain valve with the hose on it.

LIFT THE HANDLE up on the PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE to get full flow through the zone and out the hose. Keep the handle raised until no more air comes out the hose, then release the handle.

Close the drain valve.

Open the valve below the drain valve.

Return the zone valve to automatic.

Turn on the boiler.

If there is air trapped in that zone, this should have gotten it out.
 
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Old 01-11-11, 04:31 AM
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I took better pictures w/a real camera rather than the cell.

Pic1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pic2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pic3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pic4 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pic5 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Pic6 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Now going back to your first step about not being killed. how do i turn the boiler off before removing that cover? Do I just flip the switch to the right of it down? Just to clarify since i def. don't want to die...haha...this is the grey honeywell box under the gauge and the switch is to the right.
 
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Old 01-11-11, 07:24 AM
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how do i turn the boiler off before removing that cover? Do I just flip the switch to the right of it down?
That switch SHOULD cut the power... but unless you have a way to check to be certain, it may be best to find the circuit breaker in the electric panel and shut that off also.

Before doing the procedure in the next message, tell us if the zone that isn't heating is the TOP FLOOR... if it is, we might want to try something different first.
 
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Old 01-11-11, 08:34 AM
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the zone that isn't heating is indeed on the top floor.
 
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Old 01-11-11, 08:47 AM
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In that case... let's first try simply increasing the pressure in the system and see what happens. This may or may not work, but is so simple that it's worth a try.

On that PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE, the one that feeds water to the boiler... the 'lever' on top of that valve... LIFT THAT HANDLE WHILE WATCHING THE PRESSURE GAUGE. Increase the boiler pressure on the gauge by 5 (five) PSI and run the system. You may or may not hear water gushing through the pipes... don't worry if you do, it will (should) eventually eliminate itself (or it may not)...

Lift that handle slowly in order not to over pressurize the system and open the relief valve.
 
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Old 01-22-11, 05:31 AM
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hey, sorry I haven't been at the house. but I'm here now. I'm going to try an increase the preasure now. On another note my gf states that when the heat is running in this zone there's a lot of noise like pipes being banged on when the system is running.
 
 

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