basement radiator doesn't gt hot.

Wayne S.

My house is an old, very solid, two story brick house that was built in 1929. My hot water system consists of 4 radiators on the 2nd floor,6 on the 1st floor and 1 that is in the basement. My problem is that the radiator , in the basement, never gets hot.
There is no bleed valve on this radiator, but there is a faucet, at the bottom of it, for draining the system. I normally go to each radiator and open the valve until the air is gone and water starts to come out. That's the full extent of my knowledge about bleeding radiators. I originally thought that this radiator should have been the first to heat up until someone explained to me that it is actually the last one in the chain.
Where do I look to resolve this problem? The suggestions I have been given are:
*probably not enough water in the system.
*probably not enough pressure.
*possible closed valve going to the radiator.
These are things that I know nothing about fixing and I don't want to start opening and closing valves. The burner is only 3 years old and heats up the entire house, in a matter of minutes.
In any case, I need someone to point me in the right direction, before I start calling in people. If it is something simple that I can adjust, I would prefer to do it.

Any help that you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

mellow

heating

This sounds interesting. You have a 1929 system with a three year old boiler. If thats right, did the old SYSTEM work. Why I ask is if that rad. is at the end of the loop and this system heats faster the water dosen't move a long enough amount of time for it to get hot. That is assuming it worked before the new boiler. This should be a big consideration when installations are done. The best solution can be found by inspecting what you have. The solution is Hard to say without seeing whats there and whats the best solution. A service tech. can help.

Wayne S.

The system worked prior to the new burner but even then, this radiator was not heating. The old burner was just breaking down a lot and was the size of a washer and dryer,side by side, and about two feet taller.
The only reason it is an issue now is that we finished the basement this year. Prior to that, it was just storage, wood work area and laundry use.It didn't really matter, for the 2 or 3 cold months of the year.
Now it is a bathroom, media room and a large playroom for the kids, soI must get it fixed.
Even though the basement is finished, I made sure that we left access to all pipes and valves. Should I just call someone in to look at it? I was just hoping that maybe there was something simple that I overlooked.

mellow

sorry hard to say

this sounds like a pro is needed. Just going on what I have seen in the past but I bet this rad was not connected the right way. If fixed it will work great. This sounds like a monoflo system. That means a loop of piping around the basement and every radiator is teed off and then back on. Anyway just a guess,good luck.