Boiler Heat-Much Colder on 2nd Floor-Is this common?

[vyacheslav]

Greetings.

This is my first cold weather season in my new house (new to me anyway) with Boiler/Radiator heat. The house was built in 1950 and the boiler is maybe 10 years old. I had the Boiler serviced and got a education on the basics of how to use it. The main floor of the house is significantly warmer than 2nd floor.

I have the special "radiator key" to be able to "bleed" the lines, I have done so successfully throughout the house, starting with the ground floor and then working my way up to the second floor, following the instructions the technician gave me (letting all the air come out and then as soon as water starts to be pumped out to close the valve again). The house was 69 degrees and I set it at 73 so it would need to warm up and run for awhile, just to make sure that everything was working properly. All the radiators were working fine with no problems (they were all very warm to the touch in about 10 minutes). Once it reached the set temperature of 73, the main level feels warm and normal. It is much colder upstairs (probably about 10 degrees colder).

Is this normal? Any tips or tricks? Again, I bled all the lines and verified the radiators in each room upstairs were all working fine and were very warm to the touch when I first turned it on. The house has new-ish windows so there are no big drafts or outside air coming in.

The boiler, as expected, is located in the basement.

Thanks!

V

 

[bud16415]

The T-stat where you set the temp. I assume is on the first floor and there is just one zone and one T-stat in your home. So once the desired heating is reached the system shuts off and waits for that room to cool down and then turns on again.



You balance that slowing the flow of water to that rooms registers or by increasing the flow to the other rooms or floors if the system has some kind of flow control valves made into zones. If not you get what you get in the rest of the house.



I have an old 1880s home that has forced air gas and it also has just one T-stat and part of the colder months the upstairs acts just like yours (spring and fall). To warm the living room then only takes a few minutes of heating and it shuts off. It is not long enough to get the rooms up stairs fully warm. In mid winter when I wake up in the morning if the second floor bedroom is toasty warm I know we had a very cold night and the furnace ran a lot. I tried everything to balance it out short of adding some kind of powered dampers. What I ended up doing is each bedroom now has a little free standing oscillating electric space heater set to a little less than the furnace. So if its cool when we go to bed we flip it on and it helps out with what the main system is lacking.

Some of the charm of owning older homes. I always thought I slept better with the room a little cooler also but that depends on the person. She likes it warm.

On edit.

Yesterday I installed an electric fireplace insert into our fake fireplace in the living room where the T-stat is. Something she has been wanting for a while. It looks like a real fire and even snaps and crackles and has the option of also making electric heat on two settings. She had it running last night as we watched TV till about midnight and it kept the living room really nice and warm. When we shut it off to go to bed I knew it would be cool upstairs as there is a door to the upstairs. It was. So in a strange way the fake electric fireplace may end up saving me money on my utility bills and I will get my cooler bedroom I like.

 

[vyacheslav]

Thanks Bud!

Yes, just one thermostat on the main level. I was thinking about using a space heater in the bedroom if needed.

 

[bud16415]

If you get one spend a little more and get one that has a built in T-stat some also have timers. Flip it on an hour before you go to bed and it will just have to run enough to make up the difference.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Do you keep the bedroom doors closed upstairs?

 

[ajaynejr]

Partially cover up the radiators with blankets in the warmer rooms (here, downstairs). Then the single zone will actually deliver more heat upstairs because the circulating water won't drop off so much heat in the downstairs radiators during the extended run time of the boiler after you set the thermostat higher.

I haven't tried this one yet but try aiming a fan (not a space heater) at the radiator in a cooler room. I am expecting this to cause the radiator to take more heat from the circulating forced hot water.. (For baseboard radiators the air has to be pro-actively directed under the radiator).

 

[Guzzle]

The Stack Effect says the upstairs should be warmer, other things being equal.

 

[Hamberg]

Assuming you have cast iron rads, similar to the pic? If so, hopefully you have (working) flow adjuster? Basic premise is to limit the flow to the lowers and open up the flow to the uppers - 1950's version of "zoning".

Could also replace the old value(s) with an (auto) adjustable version - Thermostatic Radiator Valve

Here is video: youtube.com/watch?v=_44vzZvmFLM

edit: @oldognewtrick has a good point as well; make sure the upstairs doors are open. Heat rises (and needs a way to get into those rooms)

 

[Sparky617]

One of the beauties of hot water heating is the ability to zone the house more effectively than with forced air. But in an older system without a zone control manifold it is more of a manual process, going around fiddling with the valves in each room. I don't have any experience with hot water heat, every house I've lived in has had forced air. I did have an apartment once with steam heat, it wasn't great as the system was old without any control in each apartment.

I've seen the guys on This Old House do some cool stuff with boilers and hot water heat, but that was in a total renovation with new modern systems. I've lived in the south now for 27 years and hot water heat is pretty rare here. Given AC is as important in the hot and humid SE USA forced air systems are the norm. My current house now has three systems, one for the basement, one for the first floor and one for the second floor. If I ever decided to finish my walk up attic I'd have a forth system. Now that we're empty nesters I can't see any reason why I'd ever finish my attic. With separate units we're able to handle the different requirements for heating and cooling on each floor much easier than with one large system for the whole house. The basement AC load is pretty light, I can also choose to keep it relatively cool in winter unless I'm going to be down there working on a project. In the summer the second floor needs more AC than the first.