chilly on w. 71st

Bill Dorvillier

My name is Bill and recently we've renovated a brownstone in Manhattan. We changed from oil fired furnace to a gas fired furnace. We kept all the risers the same (one in the front and one in the back of the building) and put new cast iron sectional radiators throughout the building. The system is not zoned so all the apartments get heat at the same time. The problem is that the remote sensor to the thermostats is located on the 4th floor in the public stairwell. Recently I discovered that because of the construction of the building (party wall) the chimney of the neighboring building runs in the wall that defines the stairwell and that wall, at its hottest point is directly across (about 7 feet) from where the remote sensor is located. The wall temperature at the sensor is generally in the range of 70-80 degrees so the thermostats downstairs is reading 76 degrees and the boiler won't turn on. The solution to this problem, from what I can tell, is simple - relocate the sensor to a cooler location. However, the tenants on the top floor complain of too much heat. My customer's duplex, (first and second floors) is of a modern open plan design, and therefore requires more heat, which it never gets because the tenant upstairs continues to turn the thermostat down. The boiler has hardly been running so far this season so I can only assume that the heat the upstairs tenant is complaining about is the radiant heat from the neighbor's chimney.

My question is, upon relocating the sensor, or possibly adding to or altering the control system with something like a Tekmar 2000 indoor/outdoor sensor, how do I get controlled heat upstairs at each radiator location so that I can have enough heat for my tenant on the 1st and second floors. I'm considering the use of Danfoss RA2000-IPS thermostatic radiator valves. Would these make difference? And would it be sufficient to put them only on the radiators of the third, fourth and fifth floors? Or is it necessary to put these on every radiator in order for the system to be balanced properly?

Sorry for the long winded question, I'm just trying to get as much information to you from my limited but ever expanding knowledge of steam and hydronic heating systems.

Chilly on W. 71st, Bill

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

TRV's

or thermostatic radiator valves are your cheapest solution at this point since re-piping for zoning purposes is out of the question.

I would move the thermostat to a location unaffected by stray sources of heat, cover it with a locked thermostat enclosure and install TRV's where needed; start with the upstairs first. The TRV's will effectively zone each radiator.

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Unknown

If you go that route,

> or thermostatic radiator valves are your cheapest

> solution at this point since re-piping for zoning

> purposes is out of the question.

>

> I would move

> the thermostat to a location unaffected by stray

> sources of heat, cover it with a locked

> thermostat enclosure and install TRV's where

> needed; start with the upstairs first. The TRV's

> will effectively zone each radiator.

>

> _A

> HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

> 53&Step=30"_To Learn More About This Contractor,

> Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A

> Contractor"_/A_

Unknown

If you go that route,

The boiler can be run on a remote bulb air temperature sensor, to shut it down before the building overheats on mild days, and doing away with the room thermostat. I've located them right in the boiler room, with the bulb outdoors. Set at 65-70 or there about, everyone gets heat, and the boiler only runs when it needs to.

A more complicated way to control it, with more savings, would be a control such as Heat-Timer makes for steam systems.

I like TRVs on steam.

Noel