Hot water baseboard heat not working well!

CPyne

Hi,

I just moved into a house that has a "Hydrotherm" boiler that I think is from 1959. When its cold out, 10F, the system takes for ever to warm up the house. It can run for hours and only get it up to 62F. All the baseboards feel warm. When it first starts up and the circulator kicks in, I can hear some spashing in the pipes so I think there may be some air in the system. I've tried opening the bleeder valves on the baseboards and they don't seem to have any air in them. (water sprays out of the bleeder holes). I've also tried opening a valve slightly by the ciirculator and when the system was hot and only water came out. Any suggestions as to why it takes so long to heat up the house? Is this related to air in the system or something else?

Thanks!
Charlie

CPyne

settings

PS - The high & low temp settings are currently set at 190 & 170. Is this correct?

Dof3

Check pressure to

Check your pressure on the system,it may need water added to it. Some systems need to be set higher on the limit than 190.

jeff_51

get a pro

since you just moved into this house, get a pro in to go over your system. He will tell you how well it has been maintained, what if anything need be done and will prolly show you how to do the simple things yourself. But yes, check the pressure. about 12-15 lbs if cold 20-22lbs when up to temp and yes you can run that boiler hotter, but check the pressure first

Weezbo

check the fast fill. a few times and keep an eye on the

pressure temp gauge. some mechanical things need to be cleaned periodicaly.:)

Steamhead

Is it possible

the fins inside the baseboards are choked with dust and dirt? This will seriously reduce the heat you get from them. Most baseboard is easy to clean by setting up a vacuum cleaner to blow out of the hose rather than pull air in. Blow the dust out of the baseboard then vacuum it up, and see if it works better.

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CPyne

I cleaned out the fins and upped the max temp to 200. This seems to have helped somewhat.

When the water makes it up to 200f, the pressure is reading 18 PSI. When its cold, its around 15 PSI. Does 18 sound too low? What would be a possible cause of this?

I still can hear splashing when it first starts up, but I can't seem to bleed anymore air out. Are there any tricks to getting the rest of the air out? Does splashing always indicate a problem.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

In your first post you mention, "takes forever to heat up the house"? Are you setting back the thermostat very deeply? If so, it takes a LOT of both time and energy to raise the space temp when the outside temp is very low.

If the initial system was a bit stingy with the baseboard (you mention in a later post that it's a pre-fab house so such is rather likely), the problem will only magnify with cold weather and deep setback.

kevin coppinger_4

Mike is....

right. In fact I tell people here in NH. that when it gets this cold (10F and lower) to NOT set back the heat at night...pipes tend to freeze and many cases long recovery times. Again, get someone to look at your system. kpc

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Robert O'Connor_7

Charlie..

Have you recently installed carpet?? If so, how much room is left under the baseboard? Do you have long curtains that maybe hang down over the enclosure. Furniture pushed up too close to the BB could also be a cause. My gut feeling without knowing the load/heatloss tells me you may not have enough element or the elements are dirty.Robert O'Connor/NJ

CPyne

I haven't installed any carpet, but the elements are pretty dirty and a few of them have bent fins. I'm in the process of cleaning them up and the ones that I've done seem to be working better.

A couple of them had enclosures that were either rusted or covered with many layers of old paint. These one's I pulled off and plan to replace. Right now they are just have the fins fully exposed. Will temporarily using them like this cause any problems with air convection over them?

Thanks
Charlie