Two out of three zones not working.

Roly Ramirez

To all on this board I ask your indulgence of an ignorant homeowner. I almost know nothing about my heating system so my description of the problem will surely be lacking. My home has three zones. The basement (1), first floor (2) and second floor (3). Zones 1 and 2 were linked together years ago due to a falty valve and that seemed to work fine for the last 9 years. This week however, we have lost much of our heat in zone 2 so naturally zone 1 also lacks heat. Our utility company is coming out (February 3rd!!) to check out the problem but I was hoping someone on this board may be able to shed some light.

The aquastat is reading 190 degrees and all three lines leading out of the boiler are equally hot to the touch. It's been down in the single digits over night and low to mid 20's during the day so I assume that that is why the boiler is running a bit high.

The altitude gauge is reading roughly 8 but I'm not sure if that is too high, low or about right.

The baseboard convectors on the first floor (zone 2) feel mildly warm to the touch but clearly not radiating heat. I raised the temperature setting on the thermostat to 80 degrees but it took hours to get the temperature up to about 66 degrees. The basement (only partially finished) has inched up accordingly (from low to mid 50's to 59).

Could it be the thermostat or was the systems feable reaction to the raised thermostat setting an indication of something else? Thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Thanks

ta finnegan

Thoughts

Are you certain that the zone valve is not working? Check the low voltage circuit.

Do the pipes run anywhere where they could freeze?

Is there an air separation device? Have you bled the convectors?

Circulators....running?

Just some thoughts.

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frank s

It does'nt matter

How high you raise the t-stat, the unit only works on 1 speed, it's either on or off, meaning if the room is 65 and you raise the stat to 70 the unit will run just the same as if you raised it to 85. what type of zone valves do you have, i'm sure you can open them manually.

Frank

Unknown

Do you have

Zone Valves? If so what kind are they?

Is it possible that a portion of the system is frozen?

Are the circulators running?

The fact that the pressure gauge only reads 8 lbs tells me that the system pressure is too low. This could be an indication of loss of pressure in the system due to freezing or other causes.

Why wait for the gas company call a contractor- you might get better service. Try recalling the gas company at night you get the emergency service and they tend to give quicker service sometimes. Tell them the house is freezing and you are worried people might get sick. I used to work for a gas company and I know what may work.

Roly Ramirez

Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking that the problem is in the circulators because the temperature in the zone does increase (albeit very slowly) when the t-stat is raised to 80 degrees or so. The temperature however tops out at around 69 degrees and hold there. Once the t-stat is lowered again, say to 70 or so, the temperature begins to slide back and dips below 60. I'm thinking that the boiler is running practically non stop to keep it at 69.

With regards to the valves, I must plead ignorance. I know I was told (9 years ago) that the zone 1 valve was manually overridden and linked to zone 2 but I can't seem to locate manual valve levers.

Roly Ramirez

Thanks for the reply. Fortunately the pipes don't run anywhere that they can freeze so I don't think that is a problem. The heat in the convectors varies from room to room with the room I believe to be at the beginning of the loop being warmest. The temperature in the zone has slowly increased as a result of jacking up the t-stat to 80. However, the t-stat needs to be kept way up to maintain the temprature at 69 degrees. I think the boiler is probably working overtime to raise the temperature to 69 but can't get it any higher because the circulators are not pushing the water through the loop.

KCA_2

My 2 cents


I read over this pretty quickly but if you're getting heat when the stats up then the zone valves are probably working. You're probably getting gravity circulation.

1. I just replaced a Honeywell zone valve where the end switch wasn't working. Easy enough to tell. With the all zones off does the boiler run? Probably not. Turn 1 zone on at a time and see if the boiler fires. If not, it could be the end switche.
2. As well. could be the circulator. Unless, there is only one circulator and it runs when the other zone calls for heat. As I remember you saying, (2) zones are tied together. I suppose that (1) zone valve is in the manual open position.

Reply please

:-) Kca

Tom Bradd

Yes it sounds like a pump

problem. and low pressure.Maybe you water feeder valve. I would call a Heating contractor ask for emerg service thats along time to wait. I wish I had customers that would wait that long. And I bet you'd get a better price with a contractor and they'd be glad you chose them over the gas company. Good luck and stay warm.