Radiator heat--help

[misty]

Does anyone know anything about radiator heating? We have floorboard radiators. The 2nd floor (Shannon's room, the bathroom) is like a tropical rain forest when I have the heat up just hot enough to be perfectly comfortable downstairs. If I turn it down to let the upstairs cool, we freeze in the living room. It drives me nuts! Is there any way to regulate it?

[Tumbleweed]

Are they electric base-board heaters or are they with a boiler system? I'm thinking a boiler since you mentioned it feels like the tropics in those rooms.

If I remember right, most electric base board heaters come with their own thermostat. If it is electric then make sure those raditors are dust free.

If it is hooked up to a boiler system then I think the only thing you can really do is just have it serviced so they can see where the problem is.

Does this look anything like the system you have?
www.findplumbing.com/forums/how-to-bleed-baseboard-heater-from-boiler-t1656.html

Although that site doesn't address your problem I was just hoping to pin point what kind of a system you have.

Edit: Scratch that. If you do have a boiler syster then it does sound like to keep your heat regulated you have to bleed each radiator.

See this:

www.findplumbing.com/forums/how-to-bleed-baseboard-heater-from-boiler-t1656.html

That sounds really simple to do.


I'll keep looking and see what more I can find out.

[misty]

That's somewhat similar to mine. The problem is, mine don't need bled. My cousin's husband came to look a few weeks ago. I didn't think to mention my problem when he was here, he came because the house wasn't getting warm at all during a cold snap. He showed me how to adjust the heat inside the furnace itself, rather than just at the thermostat. He turned up too high though & the whole house was getting way too hot. I turned it down a couple notches. Do you think maybe I should turn it down a little more? He checked the radiators at that time & they don't need bled. The only full (upright) radiators are in the bathroom & Shannon's room. The rest are baseboard. I wonder if its hotter up there because the radiators are larger?

[Tumbleweed]

Are you sure they don't need bleeding? The more I read the more I think it is your downstairs ones that aren't doing their job and need bleeding. If you can get those working better then you can turn down the thermostat.

I found this link that may help

support.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=opinions&action=display&thread=292020

I'm sorry Misty, I don't ever recall having radiators or I was too young to care I had them, LOL, so I can only go by what I'm reading.

But everywhere I go they say to bleed them. I am just really clueless.

[misty]

No the downstairs ones are just fine. When I set it at 68, those rooms are comfortable & feel exactly like they always have at that temp. BUT upstairs it must get to 80 degrees. I swear you need shorts & a tank top to be comfortable up there. If I turn the heat down to around 60, its fine upstairs but of course a chilly 60 downstairs, so I only do that at bedtime.

[Tumbleweed]

That makes sense. It would be a different story if you were cranking it up to 80 and you had a 68 degree comfort level downstairs. Well, shoot. I'll keep looking. It is kind of suspect that you have the bigger radiators upstairs.

By the way, you could try turning down that furnace part and see if it makes a difference but I kind of doubt it.

[misty]

Thanks. I've been looking too, but haven't found an answer either. Maybe I'll put up Shannon's old wading pool up there & we can go swimming!

[Tumbleweed]

I tell ya what, there isn't a lot of info out there regarding radiators. But according to this there is some sort of lock shield on each radiator.

Read here:
www.articlealley.com/article_53215_27.html

I also understand by reading other articles that if you just have a system that doesn't have a pump then the hot water will rise which means the upper rooms will get the hottest water. So it sounds like you may have that? Maybe?

If there is too much air that makes the radiator cold then it makes sense that the radiator that is too hot is getting too much water or at least I think it makes sense.

Do you see anything that they describe that could be an adjustment?

[misty]

Oh man, I'm totally lost. This is the kind of thing Bill could understand in a second, but is Greek to me. I told you, I'm just not cut out to be "man of the house".

I don't think ours has a pump, whatever that is/means.

[misty]

Well, after all that, my dad was here today & I brought it up with him. He said he doesn't know a lot about radiator heating, but he does know that what we are experiencing is fairly normal since heat rises. He said it won't hurt to crack a window or 2 upstairs to help keep it at a more comfortable level. He also helped me seal up a few windoes downstairs that were leaking air in & fixed a broken basement step for me.

[Tumbleweed]

That's true of course that hot air rises. But I don't think it should be that hot. I have my bedroom door open all the time and it never gets hot. The temperature maybe a 5 or so degrees hotter than the downstairs but that's it.

I still think there has to be something not working right. Especially if Shannon keeps her door closed like most teenagers do for their privacy and it is still hot, that would kind of x that theory of hot air rising.

Opening a window is not a good solution although temporarily it is. But a good solution I can't seem to find. I'd almost have to be able to look at your radiator. There must be an adjustment somewhere to control the water flow.

[misty]

Well, come on over!

[Tumbleweed]

O.K. I'll be right there! Hee, hee.