steam heat

rob_47

I have a 2 family house which is heated by steam with the thermostat on the 1st floor. The 1st floor is very warm while the 2nd floor is cold. I've installed #4 valves on the 1st floor and #6 valves on the 2nd floor. It does not help very much. How can I balance the temperature on both floors?

Thanks,

Rob

Jamie Hall

We need to know more...

one pipe system? two pipe? Vapour? Are there individual vents on the radiators? Valves on the radiators? For starters...

Brad White

I would start with

seeing if the upstairs is as well insulated as the downstairs and what the relative sizes (capacities) of radiators happen to be. That might bring the disparity back into line, but at least you will know.

Is the upstairs cold and so are the radiators? Or is the upstairs cold with hot/warm radiators? If the radiators are hot and the rooms cold, I would look at your envelope. I kind of doubt that this would have gone on too long.

How do they time-out for getting warm at the same time?

Have you tried as a trial at least, using a Gorton C or D on the upstairs? Just a thought. If the idea is to get all of the radiators to temperature at the same time, are you doing that?

Once you get the best "passive" balance, you might consider thermostatic radiator vent valves (Macon OPSK's or Danfoss or Amaark, all with integral vacuum breakers) in the warmer rooms to tame them a bit in favor of the colder rooms.

I suppose the mains are well vented too?