Hot water baseboard heating systems:

If your hot water baseboard is cold and the heating system is "on" - here we explain how to diagnose and fix the problem.

This article also describes the types of baseboard heat used in buildings and we explain the diagnosis and repair of heating baseboard troubles including no-heat or leaks or other problems.

This article series answers most questions about all types of heating systems and gives important inspection, safety, and repair advice.

Baseboard Heat: Fix Problems With Hot Water or Electric Heating Baseboards

Here we explain how to inspect, diagnose, and repair problems with baseboard heat. Inadequate linear feet of hot water baseboard: factors that determine how much baseboard is required.

We also discuss where leaks occur on hot water baseboards and we describe unusual heating baseboards in buildings. How to raise up heating baseboard that lacks adequate clearance from the finish floor surface.

Article Contents

• FINNED COPPER TUBING BASEBOARD - how it works
• CAST IRON BASEBOARD HEAT - how it works
• BASEBOARD HEAT LENGTH - how much is needed?
• COLD BASEBOARD HEATERS - quick fix tips
• COLD BASEBOARD - other causes
• BASEBOARD HEATER DEFECTS & DAMAGE - inspection tips
• BASEBOARD CLEARANCE to FLOOR SURFACE - effect on heat output, recommended distance

This page is discussing heating baseboards. If your heat is by hot water or steam radiators, diagnosing and fixing cold radiators are found

at COLD HEATING RADIATOR REPAIR (hot water / hydronic heat)
and

at STEAM HEAT RADIATOR REPAIR

...

How Does Finned Copper Tubing Heating Baseboard Work?

Hot water heating baseboard is warmed by hot water circulating through either finned copper tubing or through cast iron baseboard sections.

Our photo of a heating baseboard at left and also Carson Dunlop Associates' sketches (further below) show a typical modern hot water heating baseboard system installation.

Heating baseboard warms the room by a combination of radiation (the hot baseboard radiates heat onto surfaces in the room) and convection.

Cool room air enters at the baseboard bottom (blue arrow in our photo), is warmed as it passes over and through finned copper tubing, and exits at the baseboard top (orange arrow in our photo).

As we discuss in more detail on this page, to get the most heat out of baseboard like that in the photo, we need at least 3/4" of clear space between the bottom of the baseboard cover and the floor surface - to allow to enter the baseboard,

and we need to open the hinged louvers that control the baseboard heat output at the top of the baseboard.

 

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How Does Cast Iron Heating Baseboard Work?

Carson Dunlop Associates' sketch of cast iron heating baseboard shows the heating water and air flow pathways of these heating units.

You can see by the larger water volume as well as the increased mass of the cast iron, that cast iron heating baseboards have more thermal mass than conventional finned-tube baseboard.

The increased thermal mass means more even heat distribution as the baseboards will continue to radiate heat for some time even when hot water stops circulating through the system.

Sketch of a cast iron heating baseboard courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates, a Toronto home inspection, education & report writing tool company [ carsondunlop.com ].

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How Many Feet of Baseboard Heaters do We Need to Heat a Room?

The answer is ... it depends. Electric heating baseboard is figured at five to eight watts per square foot of the room.

And for hot water heat, running a heat loss model such as the excellent program provided by Slant Fin™ can give a good estimate of the number of linear feet of heating baseboard will be needed for a given room or building area. But the following variables make an enormous difference in the answer:

• The number and square feet of windows in the room and the window's R-value
• The room's insulation levels or R-values for its walls, floor, ceiling
• The room ceiling height
• The level of air leakage into or out of the room
• The heat output per linear foot of the model of heating baseboard chosen
• The flow-rate and temperature of hot water passing through the heating baseboard.
• Electric baseboard heat linear feet requirements are discussed at FEET of BASEBOARD HEAT NEEDED?

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Fix a Baseboard that Does Not Get Hot - Quick Advice

Make sure that your room thermostat is set to a temperature higher than the temperature in the room - so that it is calling for heat.

Make sure that your heating boiler is working, that is that the heating boiler turns on and off normally.

A hot water heating boiler may not turn on immediately when you turn up the room thermostat:

if the water temperature in the boiler is already above the aquastat's cut-in temperature the circulators will send hot water to the radiator and the boiler will turn on later when its temperature is dropped by returning water from the cooler radiators in the building.

Cold Baseboard Heat Room on a Single Zone - Replace the Aquastat?

Reader question: Just wondering if I'm about to get ripped off or should I tell this person not to do the work.

I have a 1800 sq foot 2 story house and the farthest bedroom on first floor (2 outside walls) away from the furnace in the basement (consistently freezing cold outside) has been much colder than the rest of the house (tenants keep heat at 75 and this room hovers around 64-68) It's a gas furnace

- He told me its a Peerless Boiler and he is factory authorized dealer and the date on the boiler is May 2012. I have hot water radiator heat.

This new heating guy says the one year old Aquastat Control needs to be replaced - that it is a part failure unrelated to the workmanship of the previous contractor who did the work last year (i switched from Oil to Gas). That if he replaces the control that there is a 70% chance that this will solve the coldness problem in the back bedroom will get warm.

If the whole rest of the house has been warm without any problem - is this really the problem, wouldn't the rest of the house be cold too? He wants to charge me $535 for the control 4 hours of labor at $65 an hour.

Now - its 2 days later, the room is still cold and now he's saying the baseboard heaters were installed wrong and need to be 'reworked' for $450.

That they are upside down and this is why the room isn't warm (same original contractor who put in the new furnace put in these baseboards in last year). I called the original contractor (wish i brought him over this time to begin with) but I'm working with a property manager now).

He says that what this guy is saying is not true - that they were put in correctly. It was me who decided to use a 4' shorter length on one of the walls and this could be the issue, but why then did this new guy have to replace the control for $795.

Do they really cost $535 or is that way high? Thank you for any help or advice anyone can provide. -Paula 2/13/2014

Reply: unlikely but possible

Really? I'm sorry to say that I can't make sense out of the explanation given by your service tech.

The aquastat turns the boiler on and off, and may control one circulator. I can't see how it knows one room of the home from another. The tech may be honest but a lousy communicator, but from just the information in your note, I don't get it.

In the article above you'll see more photos of normal baseboard installations. I've never seen heating baseboard installed upside down - I wouldn't even know how to do that.

At left I have inserted a photograph of a normal hot water heating baseboard installation with the baseboards "right side up" and with decent clearance between the baseboard bottom and the floor surface.

[We'll ignore for now that broken electrical receptacle cover shock hazard.]

Use the CONTACT link to send me some photos of your baseboards and we can comment further.

Contractor re-routed baseboard piping, now some rooms don't heat-up

Reader Question: I just bought a house with baseboard heat, oil boiler. I have no experience with this type of system.

We hired a contractor to remodel our kitchen and in the process he replaced some pipe in the baseboard area. We asked that a portion of the baseboard heaters be removed so that cabinets could be installed along that wall.

Instead, he replaced the pipe and lowered the pipe that runs along the wall with the new cabinets so that the pipe is touching the hardwood floor beneath.

The cabinets are installed above the pipe- he cut out a notch for them. My first question is: is this safe?

My second question is: since he replaced lines, the thermostat in that area of the house always reads about 10 degrees lower than the setting. I have check the valves- they are all open.

He says he bled the lines of a lot of air and yet still it is not right.

Any ideas what he can do to get the temperatures to even out? - Anon: 5 Mar 2015

Reply:

The contractor would have trouble completely "removing" a section of baseboard if that section was carrying hot water on to heat another portion of the home as s/he would then have to find some new (and more costly) route to get the heating water to that second area.

That's why it's more common to do what you described.

As long as the heating pipes have adequate clearance to quietly handle their slight expansion and contraction as the piping heats and cools you'll avoid an annoying noise problem.

The temperature of water in your baseboards is unlikely to be much over about 180F and is not going to start a fire.

If you had some different safety concern in mind let me know.

Second if temperature in the house is never reaching the thermostat setting for that area then the heat would run continuously - which would be costly. It's possible, especially if the baseboard piping was cut and drained during the work you describe and more so if there are long horizontal runs, that the system is airbound or partly air-bound.

The symptom would be that the boiler and circulator run and zone valves open (if you've got zone valves) but baseboard doesn't get hot.

See AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS [live link is at "Continue reading" just below]

A second possibility is that if you removed too much baseboard from the heating zone controlled by the thermostat that you cite, the problem could be that the heat-loss rate of the home in that area simply exceeds the heat supply rate from the remaining baseboard sections.

If that's the problem then you'd see that your baseboards are hot and the boiler runs for long intervals or constantly but the room just doesn't get warm. If that's the trouble you'd need to add more baseboard, improve insulation, stop air leaks, or add auxiliary heat.

...

More Cold Heating Baseboard Diagnostics

Cold Heating Baseboard Diagnostic Guide: how to diagnose a heating baseboard section, loop, zone, or room that is not receiving heat.

Watch out: as shown in our photo: this older baseboard heat installation is missing its end-cover That won't have much effect on heat transfer but it might mean that a barefoot walker could cut her toes on the exposed fins - they're quite sharp.

Also we notice that a layer of tile flooring has been added, reducing the air inlet space at the bottom of the baseboard, thus slowing its ability to deliver heat to the room.

Here are more things to check if your baseboard heaters are cold and you need heat.

Make sure that your room thermostat is set to a temperature higher than the temperature in the room - so that it is calling for heat.

See THERMOSTATS.)

Make sure that your heating boiler is working, that is that the heating boiler turns on and off normally.

A hot water heating boiler may not turn on immediately when you turn up the room thermostat: if the water temperature in the boiler is already above the aquastat's cut-in temperature the circulators will send hot water to the radiator and the boiler will turn on later when its temperature is dropped by returning water from the cooler radiators in the building.

If your heat is provided by baseboards there will not normally be individual shutoff valves at those devices, but if your system uses one circulator and provides multiple heating zones (and thermostats) there will be zone control valves (usually near the boiler) that are opened or closed by the room thermostat(s).

Air-Bound Baseboard Heating Zone Diagnosis

Once your thermostat is calling for heat and the heating boiler has been running for ten minutes or more, just feel the baseboard. Don't cut your fingers on the fins, and don't bend them if you can help it.

If some sections of baseboard are not easy to access that's OK - you can simply feel the start and the end of a section of baseboard to determine where the loop of heat piping is hot and where along the system the baseboard piping first feels cold.

Our photo (left) shows an older finned copper tubing baseboard system with the end-cover removed - it's easy to just touch the copper pipe to feel its temperature - hot or cold, that's all we need to know.

If just some sections of an individual zone or loop of heating baseboard are not getting hot,

feel along the piping entering and leaving each section of baseboard in each room to find which sections are hot and which are cold - this is a first diagnostic step in determining what's wrong.

If your heat is distributed entirely through one zone (one thermostat, one loop of heating piping & baseboards) and if part of that loop is warm (usually just the beginning portion of the loop), then there is a good chance that your heating zone or loop is air-bound.

We provide detailed, step by step procedures for diagnosing and curing an air-bound hot water heating system, beginning

at AIRBOUND HEAT SYSTEM REPAIR by WATER FEED VALVE.

Also see heating baseboard air bleed valves discussed

at AIR BLEEDER VALVES for more details.

Since on many hot water heating systems a key air bleeding or air vent point is at the air scoop or air separator closer to the boiler,

see AIR SCOOPS SEPARATORS PURGERS.

Thermostat, Zone Valve, or Circulator Pump No-heat Diagnosis for Baseboard Heat

If your heating system is divided into multiple zones of baseboards or a mix of baseboards and radiators:

If the heating boiler is running and some baseboard sections or rooms are hot but others are not, first check to see if your heating system uses multiple thermostats and multiple heating zones.

It may be that the thermostat controlling the "cold" rooms is not calling for heat or is not working.

See THERMOSTATS.

It could also be that the circulator (see Circulator Pumps & Relays)

or zone valve (see ZONE VALVES, HEATING) controlling flow of hot water to that heating zone is not working.

If your heating baseboard is installed over a carpeted floor, be sure that the carpeting has not blocked the air inflow space under the bottom edge of the metal baseboard cover. Blocking this air intake will drastically reduce the heat output from your heating baseboards, thus increasing your heating bill.

...

Other Heating Baseboard Defects

• Air-bound heating baseboards can prevent sections or entire loops of heating baseboards from getting hot. Details are
  
  at AIRBOUND HEAT SYSTEM REPAIRS

• Missing baseboard covers:
  
  the covers are required to assure proper heating of room air by convection.
  
  See RADIATOR BASEBOARD or CONVECTOR COVERS for tips on how to make or buy replacement covers for hot water heating baseboards
• Missing baseboard end caps:
  
  same as above (photo above right)

• Damaged or dust-clogged heating baseboard fins -
  
  reduces air-flow and thus heating output. It's easy to fix this problem by careful vacuuming of the heating baseboard fins using a crevice tool on your home vacuum cleaner.
  
  Watch out: be gentle or use a special brush attachment when vacuuming heating baseboard tubing and fins, or remove the baseboard covers if necessary.
  
  If you are heavy-handed with the vacuum cleaner you may bend and damage the fins covering the baseboard tubing, resulting in reduced heat output.
• Inadequate clearance
  
  between the baseboard bottom and the floor surface - blocks entry of cool air into the baseboard
• Leaky hot water baseboard
  
  connections, air bleeders, elbows.
  
  See LEAKS at BASEBOARD, CONVECTOR, RADIATOR for details.

• Inadequate total linear feet of heating baseboard for the room size -
  
  inadequate heat output may leave the room too chilly on cold windy days.
  
  Solutions to inadequate hot water heating baseboard installations include increasing the hot water flow rate through the baseboard by changing the circulator pump to a higher output unit, increasing the water temperature flowing through the baseboard, increasing the diameter of piping between the heating boiler and the baseboard input and output ends, or changing the baseboard itself to a higher BTU output (per linear foot) model.
  
  Our photo shows heating baseboard being installed in a Poughkeepsie, NY home. The linear feet in this room was held to a minimum for room design reasons, leading the builders (DF & Galow Homes) to select a higher-output baseboard design.
  
  Watch out: Unfortunately the installing Poughkeepsie plumber took some shortcuts and "saved money" by reducing the hot water piping feed and return piping from our design point of 3/4" diameter to his own preference for (easier and faster to install) 1/2" diameter piping.
  
  We may need to install a higher capacity output circulator pump at this home or perhaps we'll need to install larger diameter supply and return piping. This installation remains under evaluation.
• Unsafe electric heating baseboard installation details & clearances
  
  such as from curtains and electrical outlets or wires.
  
  See ELECTRIC BASEBOARD HEAT SAFETY

...

Baseboard Heat Clearance Distance to Floor Surface Affects Heat Output

Shown in our photo: we need to maintain an air inlet at the bottom of the baseboard heater. If adding carpet or flooring will block this opening that will cut heat output and will thus also increase the cost of heating the room.

Reader question: Will an additional layer of flooring degrade our baseboard heat performance?

We currently have hot water baseboard heat. We are installing new flooring 3/4 thick over existing flooring.

Will this significantly degrade the efficiency of the heat by reducing the airflow to the bottom of the baseboards? - On 2020-09-18 by New flooring

Reply by (mod): Recommended clearance space between baseboard heat cover and floor surface = 3/4" to 1"

Yes. If the air entry space at the bottom of heating baseboards is substantially reduced then you will indeed reduce the baseboard heat output, increasing heating cost and slowing the delivery of heat to that room.

You want to keep at least 3/4", better 1" of space between baseboard cover bottom edge and the upper floor surface.

So if your original baseboard heat clearance distance from the bottom edge of the front cover of the baseboard and the floor surface was one inch and you add 3/4" of flooring (or carpeting) you're reducing the space to just 1/4" - which is too small; you're cutting the heat output by perhaps 75%.

When our clients installed wall to wall carpeting we recommended stopping the carpet padding a couple of inches short of the front of the baseboard, thus reducing the carpet thickness and maintaining about 3/4" clearance space.

But when you're installing new wood flooring that's 3/4" thick, normally the floor would continue all the way to the wall.

While it adds cost to the job, best would be to raise the heating baseboard higher on the wall to avoid loss of heat or increased heating bills.

Details about improving heat delivery where baseboards may be blocked by flooring

It's going to be expensive to remove and reinstall all of the baseboard heaters in a building to raise them up on the wall to clear carpeting or additional layers of flooring.

Where the added floor covering is carpet, we often cut back the carpet padding or even remove carpeting from the wall to about an inch in front of the baseboard.

If wood flooring was added under the baseboards right up to the wall, it's likely that flooring fasteners were not "nailed" from under the baseboard itself - you just can't reach under there to do so.

So it might be possible to cut out flooring along the edges of the room to permit air to enter the underside of the baseboards as intended. Otherwise I agree with you that blocked baseboards increase the building heating cost by requiring the boiler to run longer and baseboards to remain hot longer to heat the space.

Also worth considering is to make sure that you're running your boiler at its highest reasonable temperature, say close to 200 deg F.

That's because the thermal conductivity and delivery of heat from hot water heating baseboards is exponentially greater at higher temperatures. That is, the rate of heat transfer improves at higher temperature.

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Radiators fluctuate between too cold and too hot

My friend lives in a public housing type situation. So any issues have maintenance guy come and fix or they call and you wait for weeks on end.

In the winter his place was freezing. The maintenance guy would come turn the thermostat up. Did that three times. Then came and replaced it.

I bought him a small room heater to assist until it's fixed. You know it's bad when your wearing winter coat in your room. He's got radiators all through the place. The basement area where a lot of meters and heaters etc are down there locked up.

But anyway so towards the end of January they finally got professionals in a red truck work on the heat in the building which is 3 floors so other tenants there too with no heat. Older adults seniors I might add.

It took roughly 2 hours due to bleeding the lines the pipes leaked water but eventually they blasted heat.

Now the issue is having them turn it off. I'm writing this it's 82 degrees outside.

I don't know if the maintenance guy is just forgetful or they got a new guy because this guy came and did the same thing. Turned down the heat on the thermostats from 80 to 70. Then did it again a week later to 60. Then he came and did something but it's blasting. My friend is very polite but it's so hot inside.

He's got an air conditioner on that's He's trying to cool down but obviously as you know heat works its just over compensating . Even the not too cold days we had all the window open to push the heat out. Now the ac on we try to keep them closed but it's not much of a difference. I'm trying to find a cheap air conditioner to put in his room too.

He's called the maintenance people and his case worker to tell her the issue. They need to have the same guys who worked on the heat come back to turn it off. We are wasting electricity. His electric is included in his rent but I'm just surprised at how slow they are getting at this. I mean it's 3 floors .

We got 1 vet who just moved out 2 weeks ago over the issue. Do you have any recommendations?

The building itself is part of catholic charities and they have these case workers who call and deal with any issue that cannot be fixed with maintenance but it's freaking May. The heat being on in April was OK with the chilly days we had.

My building had the heat of April 15th so we had a few nights a weeks worth where I had to layer up so spending the night over here at his place was better. [I'm more a colder person normally] but even I am like barefoot which I hate - sorry to rant.

He called his manager and sternly told her what this building is like.

Hoping to have her call the right people.

Would it be OK to cover these radiators?

Or is there like a valve at the end of the pipe I can stop the water flow in each thingy? It's just crazy to me how slow they are working.

Luckily there's no babies and kids here but the older gentlemen down the hall who can't take this type of heat.

Is there any other steps or tips I can do to help him keep cool until they stop playing around and fix this?
Thanks for everything - On 2022-05-13 by Amber

Reply by InspectApedia Com Moderator - steps to reduce unwanted heat from radiators

@Amber,

I'm sorry for the aggravation and discomfort that your friend has been dealing with. It sounds like both of you have been doing what you can to address the issue.

Hopefully his case manager will be able to connect with his apartment manager/maintenance and get the heat problem fixed.

We know nothing about his actual radiator or building so can't give a definitive answer on how to address your questions.

There are ways to cover the radiator to block the heat but unless done correctly, it could actually increase rather than reduce the heat output. Please see more about radiator covers at:

HEATING RADIATORS & BASEBOARD COVERS

And again, not knowing anything about his system, a starting point for adjusting radiator control valves can be found at:

RADIATOR VALVES & VENT CONTROLS

This article also has links to several other related radiator control articles that may help.

 

Can louver position on a hydronic heating baseboard block the heat transfer

Would the louver on a hot water baseboard prevent the room from heating over 61 degrees when the thermostat was set at 70?

Just wondering how much the louver will suppress the heat. -On 2022-04-13 by Lisa

Reply by InspectApedia Com Moderator -

Thanks that's an interesting question.

The ability of the louver position on a hydronic heating baseboard to block the heat transfer into the room varies as it works in concert with other factors, but in general it's certainly the case the closing the louvers on heating baseboards in one room in a building can substantially lower the temperature in that room provided that the wall thermostat is located somewhere else.

My OPINION is that closing the louver at the outlet top of a conventional hot water heating baseboard reduces the heat by roughly 75% because it blocks most of the convective air flow up through the finned tubing of the baseboard heater.

It's not possible to completely turn off heat by this method as there will still be some radiant heat generated out of the baseboard tubing and its fins and through the metal baseboard covers themselves.

Keep in mind that there are other factors such as the building's heat loss rate or the room's heat loss rate and of course the operating temperature in velocity of the water flowing through the heating baseboard.

Those are examples of why there's no single correct answer that fits all buildings when you ask the effect of the baseboard Louver on temperatures in a given room.

What causes our heating baseboards to make clicking or popping noises when heat comes on?

When the baseboard system begins to heat the room the baseboard begins to make sounds like popping or expanding. What cause this to happen? On 2021-03-10 by phil

Reply by (mod) - Thermal expansion of metal parts causes popping, ticking, or clicking noises at baseboard heaters as heat comes on

That's a normal heating system noise caused by thermal expansion of materials, usually the piping itself. Metal parts are moving across one another or in some cases across other building materials, such as a heating copper pipe that expands at its passage through flooring or subflooring.

The noise will be louder and more extensive if heating piping or materials are routed through building materials like floors without any clearance space.

See details at THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS

Baseboard fins in "wrong direction" ?

Photo above: aluminum fins are positioned vertically along the copper baseboard heat tubing. In our photo some of the fins have been bent; if there is a lot of denting, indeed air flow may be reduced through that baseboard section.

Re: Honeywell Aquastat Control Replacement

I know this is an old question, but just wanted to add that it is possible that the baseboard FINS (not the baseboards themselves) were installed in the wrong direction.

This would definitely impede heat flow from the pipes but usually shouldn’t be too difficult to fix. - On 2021-01-23 by xsie -

Reply by (mod): Really?

This opinion from Xsie needs clarification. Baseboard heating piping fins are not directional as long as the tubing is running horizontally.

Air flow moves up from floor level, between the fins and over their warmed surfaces as well as over the copper baseboard heat tubing itself, thus becoming warmer and then exiting at the top of the baseboard.

 

Baseboard heat efficiency when baseboard bottoms blocked

I recently bought a house in new England with cast iron baseboard heat throughout. I like how well it works but I'm concerned about the efficiency as in many rooms the floor has been redone so the bottom of the radiator basically touches the floor now, the original feet sit in pockets in the new floor.

Clearly this means much less air is getting under and around the radiator than should. They do heat the rooms fine, but my super low ceilings are really making the life easy there.

My question is would it be worth the hassle of somehow raising them up?

I'd have to cut the plumbing and extend it an inch on each end some how to get to the normal installed height, but if that saves me a few hundred in oil each winter it would be very worth it. Or am I just making a mountain out of a molehill - On 2020-05-14 by Dave -

Reply by (mod)

In my OPINION, Dave, over the life of a home or even over just a few years, raising the baseboard runs so that you've got 3/4" to 1" of clearance to the floor surface, if the baseboards were basically blocked before - as is your case - should make a big difference in both the cost of heating your home and the speed at which it warms up. So it's worth doing.

My baseboard heat delivery is irregular

Hot water baseboard heating of 1973 has 2 zone valves (one on main floor and one in the finished basement).

I have an on-going problem that the tech/plumber doesn't acknowledge and is dismissive about. Both zone valves open/close properly. Both thermostats were recently replaced to see if that is the problem.

It wasn't. Problem: If main floor thermostat is set at say 70F and basement one is set at 65F, all seems good.

But if main floor thermostat is set low, say 60F and the basement thermostat is set at 70F, the main floor rads will still heat up even though the actual room temp may be 75F due to sunlight or cooking.

The main floor rads (as well as the basement rads) seem to be affected by the basement thermostat.

The reverse doesn't happen. IE, the upstairs thermostat set at a higher temp rightly doesn't cause the basement to call for heat.

Any idea? (By the way, the plumber didn't even bother to feel the upstairs rads for heat; simply said "Everything is working as it should". It isn't. ) - On 2020-05-12 by Ann -

Reply by (mod): when to ask for a more-expert heating service technician

Indeed there are problems such as a stuck or manually-opened check valve on a hot water heating boiler that can cause heat to flow through one or more heating zones even when there is no call for heat. That might be the problem in your case.

In my OPINION you need a more-expert and conscientious heating service technician. Call your plumbing or heating contractor, speak politely to the service manager, and explain that after having several unsuccessful service calls, it's time for them to send a more-experienced, expert technician to sort out this trouble.

Daniel

Landlord never bleeds air from the heating pipes

Hi, My apt suite was built in 1963 with the old baseboard heater (boiler).
My question is:

Every winter does the Landlord (have to bleed the pipes) cause you constantly hear water running, splashing, etc & we quite often have no heat.

Landlord never comes into our suites to bleed it, he has it running all year.
Thank You Carolyn - On 2020-03-16

Reply by (mod)

If your apartment is getting enough heat in winter then your heating pipes are not air-bound and the landlord doesn't need to bleed them.

Also, there are automatic air bleeders that can be installed at various points on the heat system piping, often eliminating the need for manual air bleeding of the system.

But if your heating system is also heating your apartment during the summer, then certainly there is a heating system valve or control that needs to be fixed.

You might point out that to your landlord - if that's the case - because sending out heat during the summer is not only wasteful, it's an unnecessary cost for everyone. In that case, take a look

at HEAT WON'T TURN OFF

Who can check to see if my circulator pump is working and properly installed?

Hi - I need to find someone to check my baseboards - bleed air, determine if circulator pump is working properly and is right size.

One zone of my 3-zone house outside Boston, Massachusetts has not been heating properly this winter.

Who should I look for to help me with this? If you can refer me to a specific company, great. If not, a general description of who I should look for is fine. Thanks, Lee -On 2019-03-10

Reply by (mod)

Lee: your heating service technician can certainly tell you if your circulator pump is running and properly-sized.

But when you've got just one cold heating zone your tech may want to check first to see if that zone is air-bound. If air in the heating system piping isn't purged (as it should be by automatic air bleeders) it can accumulate until it actually blocks the flow of hot water through the zone. Then that heating zone will be cold.

To read how we diagnose and fix that trouble

see

- AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - home - some of those repairs or checks can be done even by an inexperienced homeowner and that might get your heat working quickly and without needing a service call. - DF

 

Hot heating water isn't making it to our baseboards. Is it the circulator pump?

No water going to baseboards. is circulator pump - On 2018-10-17 by john

On 2018-11-19 - by (mod) - thermostat or heat won't turn off? Airbound baseboards?

John, there are several possible causes and fixes, all organized at

AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - home

Take a look and post further questions or results after you give those diagnosis and repair steps a try. Some of them are easily done by a homeowner.

Daniel

Baseboard heat won't turn off

The baseboards never stop running and it turned down to 1 on the knob and it’s still way too hot in the apartment. Is the baseboards not suppose to stop running once it gets to a certain temperature? - On 2018-10-14 by Gayle

Reply by (mod): how to fix the problem of too much heat

Gale see these two diagnosis and repair articles that address the two likely causes of the problem when your heat doesn't turn off when the thermostat is satisfied:

• HEAT WON'T TURN OFF
• THERMOSTAT WON'T TURN OFF 

Question: recurrent hot water heat freeze-up problem

I have hot water baseboard system boiler in my crawlspace (.Basement) I'm thinking about replacing the boiler with a horizontal warm air furnace Adams furnace. I keep getting freeze ups and they are very difficult to repair.

The furnace Adams make is supposed to be 95 percent efficient. Plus the fact there are no pipes to freeze is the warm air furnace the way to go? Thanks Paul - (June 19, 2014)

Reply: Sorting out: hot air heat (furnace, forced warm air) is different from baseboard heat (water or electric)

Paul,

You were commenting about hot water and hot air heat on a steam heat article - so this may be a bit confusing to other readers, but in general, conversion to another heating method is fine if you can bear the expense; each heating type has its pros and cons so IMO there is not a single "right" answer.

Keep in mind that when you change from steam heat or hot water heat to forced warm air heat, your costs are much greater than just the heater itself as you have to install a heat delivery system : air ducts and registers. That can be convenient in some building designs and quite costly in others.

See details at ANTIFREEZE for BOILERS

and at WINTERIZE A BUILDING - home

Baseboard no longer hot after all water pipes were drained

Water company drained all water pipes in order to change meter. once water was restored I bleed radiator at highest point, I turned the heat back on. radiators got hot but the hot water baseboard heaters did not get hot. - On 2015-02-16 by val B

Reply by (mod) - Draining building water supply pipes affected baseboard heat?

Val it would be quite odd odd for draining the building water supply piping to have an impact on the heating system piping - UNLESS - there were a failed or missing check valve or backflow preventer between the boiler and its water supply piping.

If that were the case you'd think that if the building were drained entirely the boiler would have been completely emptied.

Try the diagnosis and repair steps shown at More Reading above in the article titled

AIRBOUND HEAT SYSTEM REPAIRS

But

Watch out: have your heating service tech make double sure that there is a one-way check valve at the water inlet supply of your water system that provides water to the heating boiler (and its baseboard or radiator piping loops).

Otherwise we risk back-contamination of your potable or drinking water piping with rather nasty water from the heating zones.

Will closing baseboards in one room make others warmer?

If I close the vent in another room, will it be warmer further down to other rooms that are not as warm? - On 2015-02-04 by Anonymous

Reply by mod: How to adjust or balance baseboard heat in different rooms

Definitely yes, providing that those rooms are all on the same heating zone or loop of hot water baseboard piping.

In an opposite example, at a home where the occupants want their bedroom to be cool (for sleeping) at night but they want their bathroom and other areas to remain warmer, we simply closed the top outlet louver of the heating baseboard runs in their bedroom.

That kept the bedroom cooler while allowing that hot water to carry heat along to other rooms in the same heating zone.

 

One baseboard heater section is cold

Small baseboard heater is bathroom not getting hot. - On 2015-02-16 by Anonymous -

Reply by (mod)

It's probably airbound. See AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS

Diagnosing cold baseboard: which sections of pipe should feel warm?

Some of my baseboards are cold even during a call for heat. I felt the pipes and I think that the warm piping was on the "outlet" or downstream end of baseboards from my boiler and circulator pump. Is that possible? - Anon On 2015-01-07

Reply by (mod) - Piping baseboard heat in series versus in parallel

Anon

Indeed this is a surprise: when a heating system is air-bound we expect the warm pipes and baseboards to be on the incoming side of the air-bound location - that is, hot water flows from the boiler as far as it can get before it is blocked by air (or more rarely by something else). But your heating system baseboard piping is an unknown.

If the baseboards were piped in parallel rather than in series, the problem could be air within individual baseboard sections.

If there are no air bleeders on those baseboards I'd ask the heating service tech to add them as part of a project to properly purge the system from air.

Please review the diagnosis and repair steps given

at AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS

 

Thank you to our readers for their generous comments:

On 2023-02-28 by Trevor Carlton

This is very helpful as I'm searching for heating options for my upcoming home renovation project.

The article's focus on safety and energy efficiency was beneficial, as these are key factors I am looking for in a new system.

...

Continue reading at AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• AIR BLEEDER VALVES - how to find and operate those cute little controls on baseboards (or radiators)
• AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - no heat because air is trapped in piping
• BASEBOARD HEAT REPAIR - home
  • AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS
  • BASEBOARD HEAT DAMAGE REPAIR
  • COLD HEATING RADIATOR REPAIR (hot water / hydronic heat)
  • LEAKS at BASEBOARD HEATERS
• RADIATORS for ROOM HEAT - home
• STEAM HEAT RADIATOR REPAIR
• NO HEAT - BOILER / FURNACE DIAGNOSIS If none of your heating radiators, baseboards, etc. are getting hot, start your diagnosis at this article
• ELECTRIC HEAT - home
• NO HEAT - BOILER

Suggested citation for this web page

BASEBOARD HEAT REPAIR at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to HEATING BOILERS

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