QUESTION FROM Shell

I have a 2-zone, single circulator oil heater that heats my hot water and the hot water for my baseboard heaters. We have hot water, but the baseboards are cold. We have had multiple service calls, but still no heat. We have replaced the expansion tank, air valve near the heater, and the box that controls the temperature the hot water is heated to. There are no air release valves on the pipes, so we were advised to drain the system completely, then re-fill while releasing water until all bubbles were gone. None of these things have restored heat to the registers. Can you suggest anything we can try or may have been overlooked.

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Shell:

It's rather difficult to diagnose a problem like this without being able to physically inspect your system. But with that said, let's see if we can help you as best we can.

If you haven't already, you should look at the tutorial video about baseboard heating systems in our Maintenance Library:

http://www.home-wizard.com/maintenance/baseboardheating.asp

Then use this as a guide for checking the parts of your system that may not be operating properly. For example:

1) Is your room thermostat working properly, and telling the circulation pump and furnace to turn on?

2) Is your circulation pump for the baseboard radiators working properly (that is, when you turn up your thermostat, can you feel the circulation pump start to vibrate)?

3) If the circulation pump is running when you turn up your room thermostat, is the piping upstream and downstream of the circulation pump both hot?


Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com