Help- Hot water baseboard heaters only warm to the touch
My fiancé and I just purchased a 2-unit house that was built in the 1940s and that has been recently “remodeled” but more like flipped. Along with that 2 new boilers and water tanks were installed one for each floor. We are one week in since moving in and the baseboards heaters only ever get warm to the touch. Each floor has its own thermostat and when I set them to 90F they never go past 64F (average temp since we’ve been here has been around 30F). I had a professional come take a look at the boilers and he says everything is working fine, he even bled the system but there has been no change in temperature in the house. He mentioned that it might be an insulation problem but there is simply not enough heat coming from the baseboards. What could be the problem??
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Can you get access to your heater? I would like to see what kind of heater you have. Some of the lower cost heaters can have an adjustment you may be able to change yourself. on the more advanced models you need to have a professional make the necessary changes to get the baseboard heater to get hotter.
A few pictures would be helpful including the rating plate/sticker with the model number
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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😀
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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That doesn't sound right. And your description needs clarification.
What type of boiler(s) do you have?
What type of radiators?
Do you have steam or hot water heat?
Please post some pictures of the boilers both close up and further away, and some pics of the type of radiators so that we can get a better look at what's going on.
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Thanks, @EdTheHeaterMan.
@Jlopez18, welcome to Heating Help! I've merged your two discussions into one here to prevent confusion.
Forum Moderator
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Jennifer Lopez ?
can we get your autograph?
post the pictures, show a wide angle of the boiler, floor to ceiling, show any circulators, tanks, controls, maybe 2 or 3 angles
known to beat dead horses
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LOL I don't think that this is the same jlo But I bet she gets this a lot
Please post some more information with photos. @Jlopez18
EDIT: photos of the heating system!!!
Your profile pic is just perfect
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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here are the pics!
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Could you show the pressure gauge on left side near power switch?
What pressure is in the system?
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@Jlopez18 Your system is most likely air bound. To begin with you should have nothing but water in your pipes and no air. I would think that this is the reason for your "warm" and not "hot" radiators.
Your system needs to be purged of air. This should get the system working more properly.
What @JUGHNE mentions above is also of concern. Let's see the pressure gauge. If you do not have water or enough water pressure in the system your boiler will not work properly.
Another issue that is related is the way your feed and return on your boiler is piped.
The circulator and auto feeder along with the air separator should be piped on the supply side piping of your boiler. Something called "Pumping away". The pictures show otherwise??? Seems a bit amiturish. Or out of order? This should also help in eliminating the warm radiators issue.
Your water tank as you call it is, from the picture is unrelated to the above issue as it appears to be a separate gas fired water heater that heats the water that comes out of you faucets and is a separate thing.
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Pictures of both sides of the pump, (left of the gauge).
Show the arrow on the back of the pump.
Can you tell if the pump is running?
They are pretty quiet, only have minor sound and vibration.
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is that expansion tank on the backflow preventer? Also it looks like the boiler is not getting very hot since if it is running and only reaching 130 then that is also set pretty low since we don't know how her baseboards are piped the heat could be getting lost in some of the other longer baseboards
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Hi, This is nothing to do with your question, but I see the water heater vents are not hooked up well, meaning fumes are spilling into the basement. I'd want to fix that sooner than later, as it's likely a health concern. 😷
Yours, Larry
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The expansion tank is piped to the vent on the backflow it needs to be moved ASAP. it also appears that the fill valve and backflow locations are swapped
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Pete, good eye, that is what it looks like.
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wouldn't have the air been released once they bled it?
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Was the pro who looked at the system the installer?
It is not impossible that the pump is installed backwards.
The arrow on the back should point down, to push the water into the boiler.
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Do you have a service contract with the people that came to bleed it or did you call someone and have them come take a look and they "bled" it while they were there? I am only asking because you will get several suggestions from us and if it's a service contract then that's good because you can compile a list from our responses and ask them to check and make the suggested repairs. If it was a one shot deal then I suggest compiling some of our suggestions and call someone else because it doesn't make sense to keep paying and paying to get the same result.
so far it seems like the boiler temp may possibly be set too low. (the manual can explain how to check this should be 170 degrees)
the expansion tank is in the wrong location, to move this the system may need to be drained some or a lot depending on where valves are located.
the exhaust pipe for the boiler as well as the hot water heater needs to be adjusted and sealed better to prevent exhaust from leaking into your basement.
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no it wasnt the installer it was a local HVAC company. Also by the “arrow” do you mean this? Which is also loose like theres no pressure required to move it
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thank you! I’ll definitely gather all the information here and have someone come check it.
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No. The green unit on the side with 007 on it is your pump.
Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.0 -
The circ looks like its installed backwards to me.
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Yes, that is my susception also.
Just a close up picture would tell us.
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what do you need a closeup of?
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The green pump on the left side of the boiler. Pipe in the top and out the bottom.
Electric cable connected to it.
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I say backwards pump.
It is pulling water out of the bottom of the boiler while it is pushing water into the top. This will not let the boiler get up to temp.
Simple fix.
Get someone who knows what they are doing….not the last guy, nor the installer.
If all the heaters are as in the pictures, they don't care which way the water flows.
And those 2 water heater flue vents are a serious issue………not kidding!!
Obviously no one inspected this.
Is there another boiler in the house?
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yes theres two, here is the other one
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Hi, There are problems… bare romex wiring, unsupported expansion tank, maybe backwards slope on water heater vent along with being oversized. You want a good technician who cares. I'd get some low level carbon monoxide detectors and install them right away, both near the equipment, and in the living spaces.
Yours, Larry
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thank you!
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Same hack job……only the flue venting on this one looks really cobbled up.
Any home inspector for the purchase? Not that they could catch anything.
Previous owners should make all of this right…….but that's a legal battle.
There are install instructions in the plastic bags affixed to the sides of the boilers.
Might be diagrams for piping connections and explain the components you are looking at. And as usual, probably no fingerprints on any pages. Common problem for "handy man" DIY installs.
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Where are you? There may be some here that could recommend someone.
Try the "Find a Contractor" feature on this site.
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That installation has similar issues as the first one.
Same key things to fix here as I listed before and now you have to add the flipping the pumps over since they are not pumping in the proper direction to help the boiler work properly/efficiently.
Not major things that a decent person can't fix but unfortunately as others have suggested, the original installer and the person you recently hired are not the people to rely on to make the repairs. These things are so obvious they should have been spotted walking toward the boiler on their visit to your home.
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It would be well worth your while to have both of these boilers repiped. It would not be that involved and you will be much happier and more comfortable not to mention the money you'll save in heating and complaints. The way both of those were/are installed is unworkable and will never work are needed.
Miss Hall's School service mechanic, greenhouse manager, teacher, dog walker and designated driver
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Thank you All for the help! Im in Northern NJ and I found someone using the locate contractor on this site, hopefully he is able to help.
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Good, please let us know how it turned out.
He may see more issues than we have picked out other than:
Pumps backwards
Exp tanks in wrong place, not on the air separator
Not having copper on the pressure relief valve drop pipe to the floor
Adding drop pipe to the back flow preventor.
All venting piping to chimney for all gas appliances.
Water heaters gas piping is a little wild.
And pumps are on the returns, thought to be better on the supply side.
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Yes but from what you are describing it might not have been purged of air long enough. Depending on the length of each run, it can take quite a few minutes and gallons of water. Its not as easy as filling the bucket that you have with the hose in the pictures.
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So I had someone come in, and you guys were right he did suggest for us to rewire/repipe the boiler, he is working on some estimates but how much ballpark should I pay for a repipe/rewire?
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Sorry, we don't discuss pricing on the public forum. Thems the rules.
Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.1
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