valve closed & no heat in zone one

HerringAli

After a particularly cold night, we realized the heat was not working in two of our upstairs rooms, call it zone one. The other two zones were heating fine. In the morning, I went to the basement and realized the t-valve on one of the pipes coming out of the furnace was in the off position (perpendicular instead of parallel to the pipe). We had several plumbers doing work in our house the week before and assume someone turned it off for some reason and forgot to turn it back on. The pipe in question is hot on the side leading out of the furnace and get progressively cooler past the "off-valve" as it routes around the basement ceiling and up through the floor joists - I assume on its journey to the upper floor where the heat isn't working! However, it would have been off for several days at this point, and I know nothing of the consequences of just turning the valve back on. I assume if I do, the heat will work again though! Do I need to worry about anything or is it safe to turn it back on? Is there built up pressure in the pipes? Will air get in the pipes? I don't know that I can bleed them, because I can't find any valves on the floor radiators upstairs. I looked at all exposed ends and they all just go straight into the floor! Zone one has baseboard floor radiators, not the old school ones that are in the other two zones in my house. Please help, as I don't want to spend any more money on plumbers!

Zman

Chances are you can just turn the valve back on and the heat will work.

There are a few things worth checking when you do so:

Listen for gurgling air in pipe as you open the valve and after it begins circulating.

Get familiar with the location of your pressure gauge, look at it before and after you turn the valve. Normal pressure for a 2 story house is 12-15 psi.

It would also be helpful to find the valve that isolates the heat system from the house. You may need to close it in the event of a leak.

Was work done on the heating system? Is there any incomplete work?

Posting a picture of your setup would help identify the key components.

HerringAli

I went ahead an opened the valve slowly. The pressure gauge stayed on 15, and all I heard was water moving through pipe. Ran upstairs, and the baseboards are heating again. Thanks for the confidence boost to try it. Wonder who turned it off?

EBEBRATT-Ed

They might have been tracing pipes and got crossed up and forgot to turn it back on after finding their mistake

SuperTech

I know it's off topic but I have to say that I like your profile picture. You're a very pretty lady.