How to regulate temperature? 77+ deg. in bdrmm & 70deg. in livrm

propertymgr

Our building is a 3 story brownstone built early 1900s with about 20 or so apartments, we have steam heat and want to regulate the temperature in apartments and rooms so it's around 70 degrees. Is there something we can do so the radiators aren't so hot in some of the rooms and cooler in other rooms? 

We turn down the overall temperature at the boiler (Smith boiler, uses oil) and put the differential is at 5 o'clock and a-b-c nobs are off, etcetc and even put it on summer mode for a few hours to drop the temperature in the building when we see the apartment temperature excessively hot. 

When we adjust at the boiler sometimes it gets too cold, ie, 64 in some apartments and 68 in others and we tweak it but temps gets too hi again. There are long stretches of time when we get it right and the temp is just right basically in all the apartments and then the system hiccups on its own for some reason and some aparmtents/rooms are too hot again while others are ok or cooler.

We haven't been able ot stabilize the heat in all the rooms & apartments so temperature stays stable at about 69-70-71 degrees. 

Here are a couple scenarios we are running into., all temperatures are taken from apartments on the 2nd or 3rd floors:

In couple apartments the temperature is 70 deg. on average and in other apartments in another section of the building the temperature is 76 degrees.

The temperature varies from room to room within apartments too, ie, in a 4bdrm apartment one of the bedrooms is 76+ degrees while the other bedrooms and living room is approximately 70 degrees.  The resident in the room with 76++ degrees complains it's too hot.  We sometimes have to address leaky radiators too when the temperature gets too hot.   Thanks, your help is appreciated!

Jamie Hall

Glad to help...

but there is a lot more we're going to need to know!



Most elementary -- is this one pipe steam or two pipe?



Then... what controls are on the boiler?  (e.g. pressuretrols/vapourstats, LWCO, etc.)?  What are they set at (particularly cutin and cutout pressured -- cutout should be no more than 1.5 psi).



What controls the system now?  Like a thermostat somewhere or a timer or and outdoor temperature probe or... and where are those controls?



If it is one pipe steam, what vents are on the mains?  What vents are on the radiators?  If it is two pipe, what vents are on the radiators?



Photos of the boiler area -- near boiler piping etc. -- might turn out to be helpful; a system schematic almost certainly would be.



I'll think of more...

nicholas bonham-carter

Unbalanced brownstone

This sounds like a high pressure problem along with a lack of venting.

I would suggest getting a good low-pressure gauge on the boiler to help with diagnosis, along with a vaporstat to keep the pressure at a few ounces.

You will probably reduce your fuel use, and enjoy greater comfort when you have corrected these problems. A good steam pro can help you with this. Check the find a contractor button at the top for some names.--NBC

Steve_175

Pics

Can you post some pics of the boiler and piping. Also can you draw a map of the pipe and apartment bld layout.

nicholas bonham-carter

Brownstone problems

Some of the problems you describe may also come from the setback which is in the controls, which can use more fuel in regaining the maximum temperature from the setback.

Many coop owners may be worried about an increase of heating cost when everyone has been made even, and comfortable. The reverse is usually the case that the unbalanced, overheated system is using 30% more fuel.

Keep the temperature setting at 68 degrees, and constant.--NBC