HELP in Minneapolis Before it SNOWS!

Eric_4

I have a story and a half home, and one of the two radiators on the second floor is cold. I have bled it, and the water comes out right away. The other radiator in the room heats up just fine. Is it possible that the cold radiator is somehow "blocked" near the bottom return, such that I can get the water to bleed, but when circulating when the system is on, the hot water has no where to go?? Stranger still (at least to me), is that sometimes the cold radiator DOES get hot (but not often). It's a 1920 home, with hot water radiators with a circulating pump.

THANKS!!!

Paul Pollets

More likely

that the circulator is pumping towards the boiler (or return) rather than pumping towards the radiators ( on the supply) pushing away from the expansion tank. Find a local contractor who understands "pumping away" and repipe accordingly. You can read more about this topic in "Tech Topics" or from Dan's book "Pumping Away"

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kevin

did it work ...

last year? have you done any work on the radiator (room) during the summer? Is the valve open all the way? kpc

Eric_4

Thanks!

Actually, this site is more for those who know what they are doing, not Home Depot weekend warriors like me : )

I'd appreciate any referals to high-quality contractors here in Minneapolis...

Boilerpro

A posssible fix

go around to all the radiator valves in the house, turn them full closed, then full open and then close them half way. Usually a problem like yours is due to poor circulation in a converted gravity hot water system (really big pipes in the basement)and the heated water bypasses some radiators. Throttling all the radiators like this typically eliminates the problem.

Boilerpro

Mark Eatherton1

Good call Dave...

don't forget, they used to put restrictive orfice plates on those radiators on the second or upper floors. They're in the exact wrong place now that the system has a pump. Close the valves down the most (if you can still move the handles)on the rad's that are the hottest, and see what happens. If the cold ones get hot, it IS a balance problem. If they don't, something else is restricing flow.

Does this only happen when the system is extremely hot, like when it's really cold outside?

When you do feel heat coming out of the radiators, you could be feeling what is known as one pipe gravity circulation. The hot water goes up the middle of the pipe and the cold falls down the outter parts.

You could have some closed radiator valves on the radiators in question. You'll find out.

ME

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Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

check out the

"find a contractor" part of this web site for a quality service man near you. bob