Basement Radiator Problem

Steve_16

When I began to finish the basment, I was planning on putting in electrical baseboard heaters. A contractor, I hired to change the old heating pipes, suggested that I should heat the basement with rads. He roughed in 3 connections for the rads. Now that I've finished the basement, I have connected 3 rads up to the connections. However, I can't seem to get any heat. The system was an old gravity feed system, which was upgraded to a new boiler, and a circulating pump. The rest of the rads in the house seem to work fine. I've tried bleeding the system, but it seems as if the water just doesn't want to travel through these pipes.
Frankly, I'm stumped. Any help would be appreciated.

Regards

Steve

Mark Hunt

More info needed


Did the contractor put the radiators on their own zone?

How were they piped?

Do you have any pictures of the system?

Mark H

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Steve_16

Hi mark:
No he didn't put them on their own zone. Basically what happend was: The original pipes were too low in the basement so they were replaced and as he replaced the old iron 1.5 inch pipes with 1 inch copper, he also added 3 new junctions for the new rads. The other rads on the line--the ones upstair seems to working fine. Basically there are 2 main feeds form the boiler. The one line used to feed 4 rads upstairs with branches from the main line. The contractor has now added 3 more junctions for the new rads. The pipes go up into the gap between the floor joists, and then come down at the wall where the rads have been attached.

I don't have pictures, as the areas has been drywalled and all exposed pipes have been covered.

Thanks you

Regards

Steve

Mark Hunt

hmmmmmmmm


well, without being able to see how he piped it we can only make guesses.

Water is lazy and will seek the path of least resistence. The water is finding it easier to flow through the upstairs radiators and not through the basement radiators.

If he ran the new copper pipes for the new radiators back to the mechanical room, you could put them on their own zone and circulator. If he just connected them to the system out in the finished area, you are going to have to open things up to make this repair.

Hope this helps.

Mark H

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Eric

Air

Did you get water when you bleed the system?

"I've tried bleeding the system"

Do you have automatic water makeup?

How were the basement rad pipes isolated? I would isolate all radiators upstairs and see If you get water flow to basement, IE making your circ pump flow through basement.

May need to balance upstairs and replace circulator with larger. But verify flow by closing upstairs first.

Steve_16