2 out of 3 heating zones not working
Forced air/oil boiler.
1st floor and hot water zones not working. (Boiler heats hot water and water is stored not sure what type you call that)
2nd floor zone is working.
Valves are open, no resistance on the levers, pipes are hot after the valve
Do these 2 zones share something in common?
pressure is 15. temp 180
see pic. cold is settling in please help. Cheers`
Comments
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OH My!! Picture is worth a 1000 words right?
Purge the boiler? Dose it have purge valves?
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Thank you very much for the reply. Is this the purge valve? Is there something the 2 non working zone would have in common?
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that valve in the picture is a pressure reducing valve use for automatically filling the boiler if the boiler pressure drops below the set point of that pressure reducing valve.
What may be in common with the 2 zones that are not heating is air in the line. Water will take the path of least resistance. If there is enough air in that zone loop the pump will try to loft the water up but the weight of the water may be to heavy to move the air out of the way. If there is no air in the working loop then the weight of the water getting pushed uo is offset by the weight of the water coming back down, so the loop with no air has less resistance to flow. Get the air out and the zones will work better.
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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To purge air from the system look for a purge station set up on the return pipes (upper left). there should be 3 of them.
and follow the instructions in this video
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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OK. I see the logic there. In order to purge air, I would be using these valves and faucets correct? The red handle one goes to the water heater/tank. the one on the far right goes to the first floor forced are handler. The middle one goes to 2nd floor air handler which is working
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Stand by purging now….
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Correct valve setup.
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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Ok so I bled the system as video showed. Lots of hot water at end of garden hose. Unfortunately no change. 2nd floor heats as before but still no hot water or 1st floor heat. stumped.
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Inlet pipe on air handler, which is next to boiler, is very hot. If I switch 1st floor thermostat fan to "ON" it blows luke wam. In "AUTO" Air handler fan will turn on for a minute or so and shut off every 10-15 minutes
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Let's take a step back for a moment.
Those zone valves have a little tab on the bottom. On the first floor valve, move the little tab all the way to the right and engage the detent that keeps the tab all the way over (otherwise it will spring back).
Now see what happens to the first floor.
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I left the themostat for the working 2nd floor off. the first floor thermostat and thermostat on the water heater tank are calling for heat but boiler does not fire
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Please read and attempt to do what I wrote.
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Roger that, just locked the lever to the right
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Ok. so it does not want to stay in the indent. it will for awhile but pop out? could be fluke?
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The other end of the 1st floor valve pipe run goes to the air handler and its very hot right to the unit. About an 8 foot run
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The other end of the 1st floor valve pipe run goes to the air handler and its very hot right to the unit. About an 8 foot run
So, will the air handler start and provide heat to the first floor with the tab in the indent?
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If the thermostat calls, the tab will not stay in the indent.
Also, manually opening that valve with the lever in the indent, will not make the end switch. So the circulator may not run. Or the boiler fire.
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream
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It blows luke warm at best. Inlet pipe on right is too hot to touch, other pipe isnt hot at all. (see pic) Right now the air handler will come on for a minute or so, turn off for 10-15 and then start again. I switched fan to "ON" position for a moment to see if air hot or not…..not
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Does the pressure go up if you pull the fast fill lever on the pressure reducing valve? A little suspect of that gauge and a lot suspect of the prv keeping the system filled it you bleed or purge.
The blower won't stay on because it is controlled by an aquastat on the outlet of the hydroair coil. When there is not airflow it gets hot enough to turn on the aquastat, then the blower turns on and cools it because there isn't enough flow through it, almost certainly because it is airbound. There is a small possibility that the circulator isn't working and there is enough gravity flow to heat the zone near the boiler.
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The pressure does rise immediately when lever is pulled. If the circulator wasn't working woudn't all zones be out of service? Also when I purge the system, I did not purge the 2nd floor since it is working.
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Probably but not necessarily and less so with the higher resistance of the hydroair coil. Depending on how the coil is oriented in relation to the boiler it it possible to get flow through the coil by warmer water rising in to the coil from the boiler and cooler water sinking back to the boiler.
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OK so a local tech said to try this before having him come over. Purge zone 1 a long time, He said there are so many 90 and 180 bends in the hydrocoil. Purge like 20 -25 minutes. 5 minutes left as I type this….
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You have to shut off the other zones when you purge. there isn't enough makeup water supply to purge all of them at once.
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Yes, other zones were shut
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Ok boiler turned back on but pressure reached 30 and by pass pressure valve on back of unit leaked a bit of water
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Lol, purging for 20-25 minutes? On a first floor air handler 8' from the boiler? I don't think the first floor air handler or the indirect water heater would need more than a minute or two at most. Especially if the automatic air vent on the boiler is working.
Does the zone valve open for the first floor air handler or the indirect water heater when they are calling for heating? Does the circulator operate? Those zone valves have a very high failure rate. Even though they might be opening it doesn't mean the end switches are functioning. It wouldn't surprise me to find 2 out of 3 bad on one boiler.
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@tmtruett I have just looked at your progress. I want you to try this.
- Disconnect one of the yellow wires from each of the zone valves that are not working.
- Lock the zone valves on manual as mentioned by @LRCCBJ
- Turn up the thermostat for the second floor zone so the boiler operates.
- Check the operation of the zones that are not working.
This will tell you if the zone valves are defective or if you have air in the system. Let me know the results.
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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Take a volt meter and check the zone valves when they are calling for heat. There should be 24 volts across the yellow wires that connect them. If there is, and the lever on the valve is still not moving freely across its range, then the valve is bad and needs to have a new powerhead installed. If the valve is bad, you can manually lock the lever in the detent position, and you can get heat whenever the second floor zone comes on. This can get you by until the powerhead is replaced.
Rick
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