Balancing radiators

georgearoush · January 28

I have a three-unit building (first, second, and third floors). Each unit has exactly four radiators of varying sizes, and the radiator layout and sizes are identical across all three units.

Here’s the issue I am facing:

Some rooms overheat significantly, temperatures can reach 82°F.
Other rooms, particularly on the third floor, may only reach 70°F.

I know this because I installed Wi-Fi thermostats that record temperature readings every 10 minutes and I have been monitoring it for 3 weeks now.

There is also a related problem: even though the thermostat is set to 70°F, the actual room temperature fluctuates widely, ranging from 66°F to as high as 82°F.

Thus, my questions are twofold:

What techniques or best practices have you used to balance radiator heat between rooms and across different floors?
What steps can I take to reduce these large temperature swings and achieve more consistent temperatures throughout the building?

I think addressing question #1 will resolve question #2.

Note: This is a two-pipe system. I am experiencing the same issue in another building that uses a one-pipe system.

mattmia2 · January 28

first thing to do is to see if the radiators are all heating and if they are heating all the way across relatively quickly. if some just aren't heating at all you probably have to look for bad traps in those or other radiators, in crossover traps on the mains if you have them, or possibly issues with drips that are not below the water line. If a trap is failed closed it won't allow a radiator to vent air and heat. If a trap is failed open it will allow steam in to the return and that steam in the return may close the trap on other radiators and keep other radiators from heating while the radiator with the failed trap heats just fine.

radiators not heating could also be water trapped in the supply keeping the steam from passing or in thee return keeping air from passing.

does your system have traps or is it a vapor system of some sort?

sounds like the first step is to adjust the anticipator on the thermostat to run a bit shorter cycles and see if that takes care of the fluctuation in the room with the t-stat.

then the next thing to do since it is 2 pipe is to close the valves on the radiators that are in the rooms that are the hottest some

DCContrarian · January 28

Trying to manually balance radiators is a mugg's game. You need some sort of thermostatic balancing, either thermostatic valves (TRV's) or zoning.

Jamie Hall · January 28

eh? This is I believe, two pipe steam. And, if so and the traps are working properly and the radiators all get steam, the correct way, in fact, to balance the system is to partially close the inlet valves on radiators which are overheating their spaces.

dabrakeman · January 28

Also, where is your thermostat? Is it in a location too sheltered?

patrykrebisz · January 28

Here is my video on theory behind balancing steam heat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGIG_Pg3rpA

Balancing radiators

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