Sandy still haunts my home!

[durachka]

Hello all! I'm new to this forum and would like to introduce myself. I am a Hurricane Sandy survivor and rebuilding my home everyday!

The first two levels of my home were flooded. At first, I had my boiler fixed and my water heater replaced. The heating (single pipe system) was working perfectly fine in all rooms of the house (I have radiators in each room). Later, many plumbers told me I needed to replace my boiler being it was under salt water and will give problems in the future. So, now I have a brand new boiler. The problem, is that the rooms on the very top floor have no heat. The people who replaced the boiler couldn't understand why the heat upstairs stopped working and took no responsibility for it. I've had plumbers come in and bleed them out, adjust the pressure, put water in the system and nothing works. The last plumber that came in has recommended that the pressure pump be replaced with a stronger one, but could not guarantee that would fix the problem.

Any ideas on what could be the problem?

 

[neiltheplumber]

Try closing all the radiator valves off,if you have thermostatic radiator valves just turn them off. Then open one of the radiators up on the top floor and turn heating on and see if the radiator heats up. Repeat process on all upstairs radiators. If they all individually heat up then open them up one by one making sure they heat up. You may need to balance the system using the lock shield valve which will be the valve at the other end of the system. Open them up fully and turn down the ones downstairs. It might be worthwhile googling how to balance a heating system as I haven't gone into detail.

If you still have no heat at all on any radiators when you tried them individually upstairs then you may have a blockage or airlock.

If you we're getting heat individually but when all rads open the heat died from upstairs then the pump may be undersized.

You say it's one pipe system, these are prone to balancing issues so maybe start there.

 

[DP]

Looks lie there are hackers cross the pond as well

Single pipe system is like a ring with radiators sitting on the ring. The ring has a pump in it to circulate water. First radiator will take the newly heated water with colder water in the radiator flowing out 'temper' the water in the ring. This tempered water then does the same to next radiator. Meanwhile the water in the ring is reducing in temperature. This is the principle as I understand.

Fitting a bigger pump will certainly make the water wizz round the ring but will the errant radiators start working again is the question. What you have is these guys are taking shots in the dark but do not understand the basics

Turn the valve on hot radiators off and see if that makes a difference. Before you do that, go to each radiator and touch the inlet and outlet pipe on the radiator. One you should not be able to hold when system hot, the other should be a little cooler i.e. there should be a temperature difference between the two pipes.

A lot of checks you can do yourself. Some very able people on this site especially in the combustion chamber section who might get involved.

Would have been nice to See some pictures to see if boiler really needed replacing or could have been rescued

Good luck and do come back with more questions as they arise.

 

[matt1e]

Hello all! I'm new to this forum and would like to introduce myself. I am a Hurricane Sandy survivor and rebuilding my home everyday!

The way this started, I thought it was going to be one of those Nigerian scams

 

[Onetap]

Any ideas on what could be the problem?

Probably a blockage or an air-lock in a pipe somewhere; it could be rust sediment, a defective valve, a valve that has just been shut, a crushed pipe or something similar. You won't know until you find it.

I'd disconnect the pipework for the upper storeys, connect a hose through a pressure reducing valve (so excess pressure doesn't burst a radiator) and flush it through until it runs free and clean. Then reconnect it.

This is a UK forum, they do heating differently over here. Try here for more US-flavored opinions;

http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-category/76/THE-MAIN-WALL

 

[durachka]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their prompt and detailed responses. Secondly, I'm most definitely not another Nigerian scam!! Just a girl from NY who's never dealt with a problem like this before. Also, thank you for suggesting a US forum.

Does it help to know that the radiators get warm but never get really hot? I will post picture shortly!

 

[durachka]

Would have been nice to See some pictures to see if boiler really needed replacing or could have been rescued

This really upsets me. It seemed like the boiler WAS rescued--everything was working fine until about 3 different plumbers told me that a boiler rescued after being submerged under salt water was bound to give me problems. Now I'm starting to believe I did the wrong thing.

 

[DP]

Sea water damage is not something these plumbers would have experience of, more the dollar sign clouding their thinking

 

[onecog]

Looks lie there are hackers cross the pond as well

I worked in Saudi Arabia for an American firm (atlantic international,baltimore,maryland) and i can tell you that they have rough carpenters & they have smooth carpenters and it's exactly the same with the plumbers

 

[Onetap]

Now I'm starting to believe I did the wrong thing.

IMHO, replacing the boiler was the right way to go, immersion in salt water would usually be fatal for anything containing electrical components.

PS The story continues with photos here;

http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/145832/Sandy-still-haunts-my-home