I am having issues with the heating system on the second floor of my house. I have a Weil McClain Gas Boiler with 2 separate heating zones. The first floor works fine, but the second floor which uses baseboard heating, only seems to get as hot as 69 degrees F no matter what I set the thermostat to. I thought it was a faulty thermostat, so I replaced it with a new digital programmable one but I still get the same result. Even when the temperatue reaches 69 the zone valve stays open and circulates the water but it does not get any warmer than 69. This just started happening recently, our heating worked fine for the last 2 months and suddenly we have this issue. Let me know if you have any idea what could be causing this. Thanks!
Baseboard Heating Issues
- Thread starter donjuanc79
- Start date
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this is a UK website and our methods and equipment are different.
if baseboards are a kind of radiator, check if they are reaching, and staying at, the correct temperature. If so then it appears that their heat output is not greater than the heat loss of the rooms. Common causes are undersized radiators, excessive draughts, insufficient insulation, internal door left open; heat lost through holes in ceilings e.g. for downlighters. It might also be that the weather in your area is unusualy cold and the heating system is not powerful enough for your climate.
it might be useful to know how long you have lived in this home; how effective the heating has been in past winters; is it colder than usual; has anything changed in the building or heating system or occupancy patterns.
over here, we have a temperate climate, and the current standard is to have 10 inches of insulation above the top ceilings to reduce heat loss. I do not know what is required in your part of Illonois.
if baseboards are a kind of radiator, check if they are reaching, and staying at, the correct temperature. If so then it appears that their heat output is not greater than the heat loss of the rooms. Common causes are undersized radiators, excessive draughts, insufficient insulation, internal door left open; heat lost through holes in ceilings e.g. for downlighters. It might also be that the weather in your area is unusualy cold and the heating system is not powerful enough for your climate.
it might be useful to know how long you have lived in this home; how effective the heating has been in past winters; is it colder than usual; has anything changed in the building or heating system or occupancy patterns.
over here, we have a temperate climate, and the current standard is to have 10 inches of insulation above the top ceilings to reduce heat loss. I do not know what is required in your part of Illonois.
John,
Baseboards are just some copper pipe with fins on it and a sheet metal covering. We didnt have a problem with the heat until about 2 days ago. The pipe gets hot and starts heating up the room but then when it reaches 69 degrees f it stops heating, even if I set the thermostat to 80. It is not unseasonably cold and it was able to maintain a temperature of about 74 a few days ago when it was much colder outside. This is our first full winter in this home, but we did use the heat last winter too but only for about a month since we just purchased the home in February. Nothing has reall changed with the system or any other patterns in the upstairs area except that we started keeping it cooler upstairs since go got a high gas bill.
do you run the heating 24 hours a day? are the walls brick or what? do the walls contain insulation? how much insulation does the ceiling have? Is the ceiling or floor concrete, or plaster and wood?
Do the copper pipe and the fins reach, and stay at, their target temperature, or do they cool down? Do you know what the boiler/furnace flow temperature is?
Do the copper pipe and the fins reach, and stay at, their target temperature, or do they cool down? Do you know what the boiler/furnace flow temperature is?
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Try asking this question on Heating Help, which is a USA based site. They will be more familiar with your type of installation.
PS for UK readers: "Baseboard" = "skirting board".
PS for UK readers: "Baseboard" = "skirting board".
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