One zone of baseboard heat is always on; also need a good book on maintaining baseboard water heat s

ithryn

I just purchased a foreclosure with a four-zone baseboard water heating system. It seems like a pretty new system, circa 2002, and a home inspector checked it out (though mostly just for leaks). However since the system has been running, the attic space (which has a separate zone) has been hot hot hot - up to 95 degrees F up there even when it's 40 degrees outside here in Chicago.

This is a finished, insulated attic space. At first I thought the problem was poor ventilation or heat collecting from the rest of the house, and I was about to call a contractor to talk about ventilation and whatnot, but I noticed that even with the Honeywell thermostat switched to heat-off the pipes are still very hot.

Is this something I could check myself? Or should I call a repairman? I have a phone number of a recommended repairman but didn't know if this was something I could fiddle with myself.

Also, are there any good books/manuals/websites for maintaining this kind of system? For instance, once I spoke with someone who had a faulty thermostat and somehow they overrode the thermostat control and just manually turned the heat on and off so they wouldn't freeze in the winter before the repairman came. I would've never known that was possible. Also I'm concerned to maintain this system and not have it fall into disrepair.

Thanks,

Chris

Brad White

First you need to know

how the system, that zone specifically, is controlled. It should have a thermostat and a relay to operate the circulator (or zone valve). If it is running wild like that, someone may have installed a jumper across the terminals to make the relay think a thermostat is always calling. SOMETHING has to be controlling it.



This site is a good resource but the idea of maintenance is broad. Check out  the "Shop" tab. There are lots of good books but also technical manuals written by some of the best. Just trying to help you seek your level of need.