Hot second floor?

ChrisJ

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but I lived in a ranch until recently so this is my first 2 story house.



<strong>Is it normal for the second floor of a house to be warmer than the first, and to have this difference increase with colder ambient temperatures?

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We live in a 2 story house built in 1860 approx with steam heat.  I have balanced the steam to have the entire house evenly heated to perfection.  However even though every room on every floor is say, 70F on a 20F day when it drops down to 5 or 6F outside my second floor gets much hotter than the first.  Say with a 67F set temp I'm seeing 71-72F on the second floor, thermostat is on first floor in what I think is a good location.



Now my only guess is this is simply due to the nature of heat, it rises.   And if so, why is it effected so much by ambient temperature, wouldn't it be equal as in the same amount on a 0F day as a 20F day?



Sorry if this is a dumb post but I'm trying to figure out if this is simply the nature of a 2 story house or if I need to adjust balancing.  My best guess is a majority of the heat is shooting right up the steps.



If its just the nature of the beast I might rebalanced for a slightly cooler second floor on mild days and settle for a happy medium.

JeffM

have that too

I'm not saying it's normal, but that happens in my 1890 2-story Victorian too. I've got it well balanced for even heating on most days, but when it's really nasty outside we find that the upstairs creeps up a couple of degrees just like you have seen. I think your analysis is probably correct. In my place, I attribute it to a large radiator in the front entry area (which needs to battle the heat loss from the front door and windows) which is also close to the stairs, so when the heat is on for long cycles there's more convection of heat up the stairs. I just chalk it up to one of the downsides of a single zone system and live with it.