Baseboards in basement

Morris

I have baseboards in the basement and a small pump to circulate the water from and to the oil furnace, my problem is that in is not enough to keep the place warm the baseboard pipes are only really hot when the furnace is on for a while and as soon as it goes off it is not hot enough to give steam meanwhile the rest of the house reached 73F, what do you suggest? is the any way to have the basement baseboards separately? thanks in advance!

Jon S.

is the basement on its own zone? If not, it needs to be.

Morris

I am not sure what you mean by its own zone, there is only one boiler.

Tom M.

It sounds like

you have a cold start steam boiler with a baseboard zone using condensate to heat the basement. If this is the case, there are a few possible causes for what you describe. The pump could be wired to run only when the burner runs (this may sound ridiculous to the contractors out there but I've seen it). You could have a circulator relay that is not properly wired (it should run the pump and call the burner up to a high limit which prevents unwanted steam upstairs). Your supply and return could be too low on the boiler (high limit is satisfied, cold water runs in, across and out of the boiler without removing any heat, but it works when the boiler is steaming). In any case, an experienced contractor should be able to help you. Also, where you say it's got a small pump, it could be a water lubricated pump which should not be used on a steam system.