circulater problem ?

[donkarlos]

so maybe think belongs in the boiler room, but here goes:
our forced hot water heating system goes around only a 900 sq ft house. the point at which it begins gets pretty hot but as it makes its way around each room it gets cooler and cooler to the point where the last room barely gets any heat at all. is this a pump problem or what ? thanks

 

[Gooserider]

I agree, I think you'll get more useful help in the Boiler Room, so I moved it...

Not an expert, but I would guess that it may be a problem of having too much heating stuff on one loop? Either divide the loop, or mask off some of the radiators in the early part?? If the pump is circulating I wouldn't think it's a pump issue, but could be wrong (Maybe there is a restriction that is cutting down on the flow - when was the last time the system was bled?)

Gooserider

 

[donkarlos]

yeah, I could bleed the system. it has been years I imagine. basement ceiling is finished so hard to split the loop without taking it all down. maybe I should drain it all because I think the water might be pretty black by now... I wish the system could be switched to flow in reverse at times so it hits the bedrooms first. seems like this shouldn't happen in such a small house.

 

[Chris S]

How long is the loop, what size is the pipe? what pump are you running? and did it work before.

If it used to work, purge it out first, if that isn't it I'd look at the circulator. I've seen circulators where the impellars were worn away

Chris

 

[Gooserider]

yeah, I could bleed the system. it has been years I imagine. basement ceiling is finished so hard to split the loop without taking it all down. maybe I should drain it all because I think the water might be pretty black by now... I wish the system could be switched to flow in reverse at times so it hits the bedrooms first. seems like this shouldn't happen in such a small house.

I don't claim to be an expert on hydronics from working on them, but I know when I was growing up in a house w/ baseboard heat, it was part of the annual fall ritual to run around and bleed the air out of all the baseboards... As I understand it, w/o bleeding you get more clanking and banging as the water tries to push past the trapped air, and performance falls off because the air acts as an obstruction in the pipe...

Gooserider

 

[pybyr]

I agree with others that you should check the basics of the system first, but if push comes to shove, there is a way to take a loop that is "too long for its own good" and use a 4 way valve to have it switch directions periodically.

I can't find my way back to it right now, but there was a Siegenthaler article on the net about how to do this-- so the tail/cold end and front/warm end or the loop alternate roles.

I'd eliminate all the other possibilities that people are mentioning first, though.

 

[101prf]

Is the pump not operating and gravity feeding? I doubt the loop is to long in that size house but heres a couple question, What kind of pump is it?(probably a green taco 007)How many feet of baseboard? Is it a single zone boiler? Is the circulator very hot?

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Is this all fed in series?

 

[Frxdy]

One zone will accomadate 70 feet of basebaord, no more.

 

[rowerwet]

my house had the same set up, also the water went through each baseboard instead of the more usual (today) parallel style (where the baseboard is in parrallel with the main loop. I split my baseboards into three zones using a manifold at each end.
In your case ,where you have a ceiling that you don't want to take down, you could splice in a bypass pipe underneath each baseboard with a valve in the baseboard pipe to control the flow through it, this would mimic a parallel type system with all the plumbing above the floor. this is asuming you have enough space below the baseboard cover supports to run another pipe.
then you would adjust the flow so that the first few baseboards were getting the least flow and the last few baseboards weren't being bypassed at all.

 

[Plumbit]

Something has to be wrong with the circulator I have worked in houses with 4/5 zones one circ and no problem (not the best way to pipe the heating system) But I have seen the impeller on B & G circ's eaten away because of cavitation from air, spring couplers stripped out because of a frozen bearing asembly, impellers damaged from freezing, So start there.