Is My House Cooking Me?

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thedude110

Feeling the Heat
Aug 12, 2011
277
Central Connecticut
I have a strange and unwelcome problem.

I have an oil fired boiler that moves hot water around the house to create heat. Right now, the furnace is not kicking on, but the pipes in the baseboard radiators upstairs are warm -- enough to have moved the temp up there to 75 (with solar help). It's held at 75 since sunset, with the heat turned to "off" on the thermostat (it was set at 62) and the furnace only kicking on for hot water for showers and laundry. Why am I getting heat without my furnace doing anything, and how can I make it stop?

Any idea what could be going on? I know I should be welcoming to this "free heat," but I've gained three degrees today and I'm afraid, eventually, my house will cook me.
 
A zone valve stuck open?

(Although don't think I've heard of that before).

Do you have a dump or overheat zone? Might be a normally open zone valve that a motor has gone bad on, or the gears have stripped inside, therefore it is always open?
 
Yep. If you have zone valves, it sounds like a motor head burned up. I had that happen many times when I had zone valves years ago. I usually had the opposite problem though. Stuck shut, and no heat for the tennant in one of the apartments. That always got me a phone call.
 
Ghost flow maybe.
Failed check valve or other component designed to stop flow when desired.
If you describe how your system is controled folks can have a go at possible solutions.
 
I do have two zones, and I have two valves, so I think those are zone valves.

If I'm hearing you folks right, it sounds like hot water we're using for other purposes is working its way into one of our zones -- perhaps because a valve or motor is on the fritz -- but not able to get back out?

I know nothing about anything, so I'll call someone out tomorrow and see what they say. I was sort of hoping someone would say "Just install a new thermostat," or something else I can sort of do. Unfortunately, it's obvious even to me that the problem isn't with the thermostat ...
 
Hopefully, if it is a motorhead, it can be fixed quickly and painlessly. Good luck man. And keep us posted. Pics of them might help someone on here guide you through a fix. If you want to try it yourself. Or not. Either way.
 
The diagnosis was a loose flow check, so the solution was to tighten the flow check. Cost me $75 freaking dollars.

The long term solution, apparently, is a circ pump, with an estimate of $750 for parts and labor.

I got the impression my unit is pretty out of date, even though it was installed four years ago. I guess I should have had a circ pump to begin with? Freaking cheap contractors.

I've posted a pic of my setup below.
 

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The flow check in one of the existing circulators? Is one for heat and the other for hot water? $750 seems a little high to replace an existing circulator. Since they are flanged with shutoff valves (a good installation, not cheap) you could possible replace it yourself.
 
Did his fix work?

$750 ? What the ....?

You can buy a new Taco with Integral Flow Check (IFC) for $75-$85 dollars. Lets say they spend 3 hours replacing it. (That's plenty of time.) 3 hours at $60/hr and sometimes they charge $60 just to show up.

$240 + $85 = $325

I must be missing something.
 
I wonder how you tighten a flow check.. wind up the spring a little? :) .

I could replace one of my circ pumps in less than a half hour . disconnect power ,close two valves remove four 3/8 fasteners pull pump out. Do it yourself and when your done put $500 worth of oil in your tank. and buy a flat of bud light.
 
I was thinking the same thing. I tried to be nice and give the contractor the benefit of the making some money. :cheese: With shut off valves on both sides it shoud be real quick. And I like the idea of the savings going to the back up fuel and beer. Good thinking. :coolsmile:
 
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