Long time reader, first time posting. Trying to troubleshoot the heating system of a four story frame house we just bought. Read lots of threads which helped but still having issues. I am new to boilers and hw baseboards so any advice/input would be appreciated.
Have attached a sketch of the loops just to see if it's piped correctly and not something wrong there off the bat -- looks like lots of bad DIY work behind the walls and wonder if the former owner could've added on or removed things that are causing problems. My goal is just to get the house warm for this winter and do a major upgrade next year so hoping to keep costs down even if it's not perfect as long as we're relatively warm.
Only one thermostat and circulator pump for the whole system. 3/4" copper throughout. The highest floor is approx 30-35 feet above the boiler. The system holds water (no leaks), boiler works, but neither loop gets hot. Purged and filled multiple times to no effect. Boiler gets hot but hw doesn't seem to be going much further than the expansion tank and then pipes go cold. The big pipe feeding the circulator gets hot which seems odd since that's on the other side of the pump flow direction, so it seems how hot water from boiler is going the wrong way through the pump since there is no hot water going through the baseboard loop to get there in the other direction. I once got heat to the elbow of lowest baseboard on front of house but no further.
Crown boiler heats to 180 degrees, pressure is 12psi on both the boiler and expansion tank. Exp. tank fills up and bottom is hollow when you knock on it. B&G booster Circulator pump turns on when thermostat calls for heat and can hear water in baseboards move a bit when it is turned on/off, but don't hear running water in the pipes upstairs when it's on so not sure how much it is moving. Not sure how loud the pump is supposed to be, but seems a bit noisy when running -- not squealing or clanging (sort of a chugging sound like noisy bearings?). I can hear it in the room above so that seems to me it's too loud. The coupler looks good inside, and it's lubricated. Not sure how fast this thing is supposed to run, but seems to turn slowly -- very regular, though.
Thanks in advance for any ideas. Sorry no pix or videos right -- more or less camping out.
Have attached a sketch of the loops just to see if it's piped correctly and not something wrong there off the bat -- looks like lots of bad DIY work behind the walls and wonder if the former owner could've added on or removed things that are causing problems. My goal is just to get the house warm for this winter and do a major upgrade next year so hoping to keep costs down even if it's not perfect as long as we're relatively warm.
Only one thermostat and circulator pump for the whole system. 3/4" copper throughout. The highest floor is approx 30-35 feet above the boiler. The system holds water (no leaks), boiler works, but neither loop gets hot. Purged and filled multiple times to no effect. Boiler gets hot but hw doesn't seem to be going much further than the expansion tank and then pipes go cold. The big pipe feeding the circulator gets hot which seems odd since that's on the other side of the pump flow direction, so it seems how hot water from boiler is going the wrong way through the pump since there is no hot water going through the baseboard loop to get there in the other direction. I once got heat to the elbow of lowest baseboard on front of house but no further.
Crown boiler heats to 180 degrees, pressure is 12psi on both the boiler and expansion tank. Exp. tank fills up and bottom is hollow when you knock on it. B&G booster Circulator pump turns on when thermostat calls for heat and can hear water in baseboards move a bit when it is turned on/off, but don't hear running water in the pipes upstairs when it's on so not sure how much it is moving. Not sure how loud the pump is supposed to be, but seems a bit noisy when running -- not squealing or clanging (sort of a chugging sound like noisy bearings?). I can hear it in the room above so that seems to me it's too loud. The coupler looks good inside, and it's lubricated. Not sure how fast this thing is supposed to run, but seems to turn slowly -- very regular, though.
Thanks in advance for any ideas. Sorry no pix or videos right -- more or less camping out.