On Mar 5, 8:44*am, ransley wrote:
On Mar 5, 6:43*am, Pavel314 wrote:





I have a big, old farm house with an oil-fired furnance and old
fashioned hot water radiators. A couple of weeks ago, the radiators
went cold although the furnace would still fire. The furnace repairman
came out and said that the circulator pump was fine but that the check
valve had stuck. He opened it manually, closed it, and watched the
furnace go through a heating cycle.

A few days later, the heat stopped circulating again. I opened the
check valve and closed it, as the man had shown me how to do, but that
didn't help. I called the oil company for repairs but they said that I
had to get a plumber for the check valve problem.

The plumber came out and after checking the situation, said that the
best thing to do was to just leave the check valve open manually all
the time, that the check valve wasn't that important since I had a
hydronic system, with one pipe in a closed loop. So I left it open.

The problem now is that the radiators on the north side of the house
don't heat well while those on the south side do. All have been
checked for air lock and they're fine.

From the furnace, the hot water passes through the check valve and
into a T that sends the water north or south.
I'm going to try adjusting the valves on the north and south feed
lines to try to even out the water flow. Any other ideas or
comments?

Paul

I guess the check valve is there because of uneven heating or to shut
off an area, but does it close down the overheated side, if so try
closing it. Or are there 2 valves, one pump, 2 stats to balance it.
Pumps do wear internaly, is water comming out the radiators when
boiler is cool but pump is on. Im no pro just guessing.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Here's the layout, as best I can describe with ASCII characters:

------- Valve -----
North Side Radiators
| 4
Upstairs, 4 Downstairs
|
FURNACE --- Hot Water Pump ---Check Valve----- (T-Joint)
|
|
--------------------
South Side Radiators
1
Upstairs, 2 Downstairs


I had hoped to find a valve on the main line to the south side but
there is none. What isn't clear is why the situation changed. The
check valve only prevents water from coming backwards from the T-joint
into the furnace so whether it's open manually or automatically should
be irrelevant. Unless the larger number of north side radiators causes
inertia with the check valve open and diverts the water flow into the
south side.


Paul