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Hello and TIA, I've been asked by a coworker to help figure out why his
house is not getting any heat. Maybe the word got out that I've
installed a few forced-air furnaces, or maybe he just thinks that
because I'm the supervisor of a skilled trades dept. I must be somewhat
handy! Well, the jury's out on that one but I'm definitely not one to
shy away from a challenge!

Anyway.. The "trunk lines" leading in/out of the boiler are getting
REAL hot.. No problem there. The gage on the front of the boiler reads
approx. 25 lbs. and 190-200 degrees F. This is probably above the
intended maximums of the system, as the relief valve is dripping. The
pump motor is turning, and presumably functional. I'm assuming all the
pipes are hooked up properly, but that can't be taken for granted as
there is some construction going on in the house and much of the copper
tubing does look to be new. Further complicating the problem is the
fact that this guy, nor his family, speaks much English! Unfortunately
I don't speak Bengali (the language spoken in Bangladesh) so I'm pretty
much on my own trying to figure out the situation..


Can't help much on the langauge barrier, but I may be able to help
otherwise. The dripping releif isn't a good sign.

I tried tracing the path the water travels in, but I got a bit
confused.. There are brass "Tees" in the main pipes that upon further
examination may not actually be a Tee like I'm used to.. It looks like
one leg of the Tee might actually be closed or atleast greatly
restricted?!


Could be a mono-flow system. Do the tee's have a ring on them? Are the
tees more or less below the radiators?

The main symptom is that the pipes that branch off the "trunk" and go
to the baseboard radiators upstairs are cold. It doesn't appear that
there is any circulation through the plumbing above the basement. I've
googled a few older threads on baseboard heat and think that air must
have entered the system somehow, and must be bled out before he'll get
any heat. Am I on the right track with this?


You could be. I've heard of a lot of systems seem to let a lot of air int
he system, but I've never seen one like that.

Do you know, for sure, that all the valves are open and the circulator is
running? The hot pipes near the boiler being cool further away make me
wonder.

If so, could someone briefly go over how this is (safely) done? It
appears that there is some sort of cap/plug in the water line, close to
each baseboard radiator. Do I need to open these? Should this be done
with everything running? One of my concerns is, as this is a pretty
OLD system and the plugs are pretty crusty, that I'll crack one open
and not get it to seal up properly when I'm done. I guess that's just
a risk I'll/he'll have to take though!


I'm guessing you have manual air vents. Be very careful because they might
not seal back off if you open them. If they are crusty, that could mean
they were leaking slightly to begin with.

Anyway thanks again for any replies, I do hope I can help this guy out,
as the company doesn't pay the hourly workers much and I try to help
them out as much as I can!


You can also try the Wall. http://forums.invision.net/Main.cfm?CFApp=2