Cold Radiators

SMartin

This is my second winter in a two story one hundred year old colonial, and all my radiators on the second floor get extremely hot. However, only one of my radiators on the first floor gets hot and its usually only half hot. This just began in 2008. All of the radiators were getting hot when we first moved in. We've changed all the valves, made sure that the radiators were fully open and even replaced the thermostat and they just wont get hot. I dont know what else to do so I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks.

Timco

1-pipe or 2-pipe steam? what pressure are you running at? check vents / traps?

Tim

nicholas bonham-carter

uneven heating

i think you would benefit fron a copy of "the lost art of steam heating" available here. in it, our esteemed leader has lists of things to check, when correcting unbalanced steam systems.

your thermostat could still be part of the problem if it is not set up correctly for anticipation.

it sounds like a combination of poor main, and radiator venting capacity, and possibly excessive system pressure. your system may have been originally designed to operate with only 2 ounces of pressure, and i am sure it was completely even when first installed.--nbc

Unknown

As NBC said above, You need to get Dan's books (See "A Steamy Deal" at the bottom of this page) I was in the similar situation as yours. An old house with a steam system that was partially working and declining rapidly. My local "experts" weren't much help. They fiddled about fixing nothing, charged me a lot and kept telling me I needed to upgrade my system as "steam heat was obsolete".

Luckily I came across this site. Dan's books are easy reading and crammed full of information on how steam heating systems work. In a couple of evenings reading you will have the knowledge to understand just how your own steam system works. Then you can either fix it yourself or direct someone to do it for you. If nothing else, one of the great benefits of reading Dan's books is that you will immediately be able to qualify whether the "expert" you are talking to is competent with steam systems. Once you understand them steam systems work very well and are easy to maintain.