Stupid homeowner, one cold radiator

Shannon

At the end of June we bought a fixer upper built in 1913. We were told the old boiler was originally coal but was converted to gas at some point. We had a plumber who had maintained the system for th previous owners come look at it before we bought the house. He suggest a safety be put on it (which we did last week) and said if anything broke he could fix it.

Now, here's our problem. Because the boiler is HUGE (located in the basement) it's about $75 a month in gas just for the pilot light. We had the boiler man turn it off during the summer. He came to turn it on several weeks ago and all the radiators worked except two upstairs - were turned off as we found out. Now, the one in the bathroom stopped working for a day, but now heats up fine. Instead, the one in our daughter's room stopped working (was working fine). Boiler man said to bleed it to see if it had water. We bled it and there's water - but no heat. It's ice cold. He says he has no clue.

I'm so ignorant, I don't know if it's steam or hot water heat. I have no clue what to try to fix the one radiator. Luckily the other radiators are working upstairs (knock on wood) so our daughter's room is not freezing, but we'd really like to get her room warmer of course or we'll be trading out rooms.

I'm not even sure what information you might need to maybe help me figure this one out. As you can tell, we're new at the old house life and this boiler is older than I am by far. I can get photos of the radiator and the boiler if it would help or try to find the name on the side etc. I'm just at a loss and someone at the Old House Web site said you all might help me. We can't even find a person in the area (other than the one that has come out) that is knowledgeable in old heating systems.

Thank you in advance if anyone can help! And, I apologize in advance for being so ignorant. I'm sure in all this rambling there's not any information that might give someone a clue to the problem.

Sincerely,
Shannon

Gary Fereday

This site will be your INSIGHT

get a photo of the boiler and as much of the piping you cna and place it here. You'll be amazed at what will come up. Patience and you will most likely this is eqasy to do! bigugh! ~~~~ PS If you"bled" the radiator and got water that is great and a good first step.

Gary Fereday

And your not

Stupid. i have enough sense to have my windows done by someone who does windows! there is no such thihg as a "Stupid question" unless it is the one not asked when needed so badly

Shannon

Thank you bigugh

I appreciate your kindness so much! I should have spent more time educating myself before buying an old house for sure!

Here is a photo of the boiler itself. The next one is of the pipes directly above it and the last is of the pipes to the right of the boiler. If these aren't helpful, please let me know what area would photos are needed of and I can go back down and get those.

And again, thank you for your response and understanding. I know it has to be a real pain listening to someone who hasn't a clue.

[Deleted User]

whatever pictures of the boiler setup you could post

would help us with any recommendations. sounds like you may have a gravity hot water system. look under hot tech topics on the left sidebar for any and all data on gravity hot water. just so you can educate yourself a bit. you may want a contractor to convert to a pumped system..can be done...but would recommend trying to restore gravity flow first. did you open the upstairs radiators you mentioned were closed and then afterwards the other radiators failed?

DanHolohan

What part

of the country are you in, Shannon?

Shannon

I will go and read! Thank you for letting me know about that area on the site! I want to learn as much as I can about this system. We were told this boiler is covered in asbestos (no tests were done to check though), so the heating people won't touch it. We were told we could take a sledge hammer to it and remove it ourselves (after finding out where we can legally dump it). Then they would come in and put in a new and more efficient boiler for us. We planned to get through the winter and hopefully do this next spring/summer when it warms up some.

And yes sir, after we got the others turned on, they all warmed. Then the bathroom one went out for a day or so, then mysterious came back on with us doing nothing to it. After that, our daughter's radiator went out and hasn't come back on.

Shannon

Mr. Holohan

We're in central Kansas.

[Deleted User]

try perhaps to throttle down on the valves you

opened up. without seeing anything, im guessing from the sound of it that you may have a ''path of least resistance problem''. try creating some resistance by closing down part way on a radiator valve that you think is on the same piping your cold one is on and see if water now feels its easier to go thru the cold radiator. just a thought. keep us posted. i like interesting problems.
p.s. Dan has some really good gravity reading under heating q&a on the left sidebar.

DanHolohan

Can you show us

a photo of the problem radiator, and how it's connected?

Shannon

I turned the two that were off down half. Is that ok? I'll check to see if that makes the one cold one warm up a bit. The ones that were off - our room that is next to our daughters room and the one directly across the hall from our daughters room. These are all on the second floor and I'm not sure how to tell which are running on the same pipes.

Shannon

Sure!

Here's the problem radiator. A matching one is in our room and the one across the hall from her room is about the same but a little fancier on the outside (same size though). They all have the same pipe set up though - which might be a given, so I apologize if that's not needed info.

DanHolohan

Get a bit closer

to the pipes that go into and out of the radiators. Let me see what they look like. Thanks.

Shannon

Closer photos

Here are the closer of the pipes themselves. On the second you can see where there must have been a problem with this one at some point because the wall has a really bad patch job there. It's not moist now or anything. Just cold pipes coming out of a messed up wall that we'll be fixing next month .

DanHolohan

Does that supply valve

operate? Can you open and close it?

Shannon

I can't budge it, but my husband can turn it and has to make sure it was open all the way.

DanHolohan

There's a good chance

the internal parts of the valve have come apart and are blocking the flow.

Shannon

Would that

be something our boiler/plumber man could replace you think?

And also, I've seen quite a few books listed on your site. Do you have a recommendation for a good book on our system? I'd like to purchase one through your site to give back for the kind and helpful advice I've been given here - and to stop being so ignorant concerning our heating system .

DanHolohan

Yes

a pro could fix this for you. And thanks for your kindness. The book that covers your system is called "How Come?" and you'll find it in Books & More.

Shannon

Thank you!

Would that part be hard to find? What would I need to know to get the part for that particular radiator? I asked my husband and he said our heating man had said parts would be hard to come by so it has me a bit worried. Also, would the entire system need to be drained to fix this?

Thank you for the book recommendation! I'm on my way to look it up!

DanHolohan

He will probably have to

replace the whole valve if the parts have rotted away, and that would involve draining the system. With this sort of system, the cause of the problem is almost always trapped air or flow balance. The latter can be caused by a failed valve.

I know it's probably not the time to talk about it, but you can get a much more efficient boiler nowadays, and that would save a lot on your operating costs as the years go by.

Brian (Tankless) Wood

Forensic hydronic pathology

And troubleshooting through digital photography.

You've heard of telemedicine, now we've got telehydronicising.

I love it, thanks Dan.

No reply needed.

Brian (freezing in Swampland) Wood.

Shannon

Thank you Mr. Holohan

and everyone who lended a hand! We'll be replacing our dinosaur this spring with a much more efficient system. I hope the next one lasts as many years as this one apparently has (knock on wood) .

[Deleted User]

that should suffice for the test

did it help any? the one in your room is the more likely candidate. the one across the hall most likly comes from the opposite main in the basement.

John Morrill

boiler breastplate

A look at Shannon's boiler brought to mind a quip from a colleague. We were discussing old heating systems a few days ago, and getting into a bit of one-upsmanship. He ended the discussion by saying he once worked on a boiler whose "breastplate" was stamped S P Q R.

[Hint: think about the movie "Gladiator".]

Shannon

No Sir,

They are still turned half way down and it never did warm up. I sure was hoping it would wake that one radiator up, but it didn't unforutnately. Thank you so much for the suggestion though! I really appreciate your trying to help us so much!

[Deleted User]

then dans probably on target

you'll have to drain the system and replace the valve. not really that big of deal.just time consuming bleeding all the radiators when refilling. if that dont work then the pipes may be rusting up enough to make the water convection flow take an easier path.try closing those valves fully and see. cant hurt.

Steamhead

Shannon, that old \"Snowman\" boiler

probably has an annual efficiency of 40-55%. I wouldn't bother putting a circulator on it- I'd just replace it. You could cut your fuel bill almost in half by doing so, and you'd still be able to enjoy those glorious old flue radiators.

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