Baseboard hot water: one room exceptionally cold. How to adjust/bleed valves


  #1  
Old 01-19-18, 07:52 AM
Z
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Baseboard hot water: one room exceptionally cold. How to adjust/bleed valves

I have an old system, baseboard hot water. The heat does not distribute evenly, but we've lived with that. On the first floor, I have my bedroom, the bathroom, and the second bedroom all in a row.

The second bedroom always gets too much heat, the bathroom is moderate, and my bedroom has gotten less. But right now, my bedroom is getting *no* heat at all. It's an icebox. I'm sure I have some leakage in my windows, contributing to the problem but the heat is not registering.

I see that I might have to let air out of the baseboard radiator but I'm very new at this and I don't recognize the assembly at the end of the radiator. Am I right that I need to open this valve and let air out? And if so, what tool do I use -- can I just open slightly with a wrench and then tighten up?

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Last edited by zmulls; 01-19-18 at 09:27 AM. Reason: Fix typo in header
  #2  
Old 01-19-18, 09:55 AM
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z,
The simple answer to your question is that there is a small screw on that vent that you LOOSEN, not remove bleed air out.

Your other problems will most likely require pics of the system, piping how the feed the baseboard and more info.

You have cast iron baseboard which is very high output compared to conventional finned baseboard and under normal circumstances should be getting plenty of heat.

Hope this helps a little.
 
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Old 01-19-18, 11:39 AM
Z
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It actually was exactly what I needed for the short term problem, that is, no heat at all in the bedroom. I know the heat was imbalanced but there was no way it should be ice cold.

Yes, there is a screw -- you can see it better in the first picture, farther away. Right there on the side. I loosened it, not without trouble, as it is old and manual screwdrivers were stripping it. I saw that I could loosen it until it hit a point where it stopped. But once I got it loosened, I heard a small hiss/gurgle. In a couple of minutes, drops of water appeared -- from my reading that is what is supposed to happen right?

So I closed it up, and closed the bedroom door and I'll go back in an hour or so and see if it's warming up a little.

There is a screw with a large round flange at the top, just below the valve. You can see it best in the third picture. Do you know what that is for? I loosened it, and tightened it when water appeared in the valve, but it seems to be holding the radiator in place rather than be connected to the heating.

And yes, in some rooms it gets quite toasty!
 
  #4  
Old 01-19-18, 03:03 PM
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The only part of those vents that you are interested in are the screws to bleed the air out unless you are going to replace them with new ones.
 
  #5  
Old 01-30-18, 06:58 AM
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Bleeding the air from the radiator is straightforward. Loosen the screw to let the air out and tighten the screw when water starts to come out.

For a single pipe baseboard heater the space where an air pocket can collect is quite small so it may be necessary to repeat the bleeding every 3 or 4 days.

Now you need to be sure that there is some pressure in the system so trapped air comes out as opposed to sucking air in. Have at least 10 PSI showing on the gauge down in the basement because the pressure upstairs will be a little less.

Adjust the louvers on the radiators in the warmer rooms to reduce the heating there as you allow the boiler to run longer to heat up the cooler rooms.
 
 

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