Hot Water Not Circulating In Any Zone. Boiler Works.

Tom_22

My father's boiler is working and making hot water. It turns on around 175 and off around 195 degrees. The boiler is about 4 years old, maybe 5. The water is not circulating throughout the house, though. The bulk of the piping is about 30 years old.

It has three zones. All three circulator pumps, which are on the return pipes by the boiler, seem to be running, based on the sound they are making, and the motors on all of them are quite hot, while the pipe part of the pump is cold, as is the rest of the piping except for the first couple of feet exiting the boiler. The boiler has vertical Flo Control valves which appear quite old and rusty.

At my father's insistence, I changed one of the circulator pumps, although I don't think that is the problem. It didn't help. The new pump was definitely working. It sounded much louder then the other pumps or the one that was there before. And it vibrated more. The impeller on the pump that came out looked OK and spun freely.

Somebody told me the system might be airlocked, but I don't know how to get the air out. Is there an air vent on the baseboard somewhere? I didn't see one, but I didn't remove all the baseboard covers.

Rich_49

Pictures of the system please asap .

GW

One could type 1000 words trying to expalin it without a picture of your boiler and nearby piping, or 100 works if you post pics. It's easy yet impossible to expalin most of the time

JUGHNE

It could be low on water and that 195 could be stacking temps inside and get close to steaming. I would shut it off and get it cooled down before adding water if needed. Adding cold water could crack boiler or worse.
Plus pumps could be running dry

Gordy

What's the system pressure?

Big Ed_4

yes check water pressure look for12-15# on an three story house . There is an pressure reducing valve that maintains this water pressure on your system . It has an bell shape and its piped most likely 1/2" between the house domestic water and the boiler .

To purge they should be shut off valve and drain valve above the circulators . Shut off the shut off valve and open the drain valve to move water though the flow control valves though the system forcing out air from the heating loop . An hose connected is recommend . Assume its an single loop baseboard system . Any radiator , convector or kid heater would should be on a diverter or teed off the main loop and need to be bleed by their air bleeders .. Good luck hope it's not frozen by now

unclejohn

Don't you hate it when they post and run.

GW

it's cool, he/she must have 3 kids, two dogs and a cat they're dealing with at home, bedsides their heating issues.

Tom_22

Hi. Sorry for the delay in getting back. I tried to post before but had problems with my computer. My computer is still not recognizing USB devices so I can't load photos I took with my phone. I am trying to sort that out.

Since I last posted, it occurred to me that the boiler ran up to 195 degrees very fast, making me think there was little water in it.

At the same time, the pressure gauge didn't move. It stayed on zero.

I also went looking for air vents, and couldn't find any at first. Then I finally found one, and got a lead on where another might be. There still seems to be at least one missing vent since there are three working zones.

I am going to continue to try to get photos posted.

Gordy

Your system pressure should be at least 12-15 psi

Eric_32

If you have a hot boiler with hot water sitting in it... and a good working circulator pump.... and water pressure on the gauge... then you either have a closed shut off or air in the zone.

If you want us to help you get the air out of the system, then we need pictures of the boiler and it's piping to help.. There are many ways a boiler can be piped... almost one for every heating guy on the planet.