Boiler Heat not reaching upstairs apartment

Joy
by Joy
We have a home turned apartments. And up stairs lady says she has thermostat set at 90 but only gets to 71 (not that that isn't warm enough in my opinion) but would you say there is a problem or does boiler heat just "cap off" there? The boiler is in basement. And yes it's old. Thanks in advance.

  7 answers
  • V Smith V Smith on Dec 17, 2017

    You may need to bleed the air out of the system.

    • Joy Joy on Dec 17, 2017

      Any chance you could explain that to me? So I could do it myself. :)

  • William William on Dec 17, 2017

    Is she the only one with a thermostat or are there more. What kind of heat is it hot water or steam. Hot water heat radiators would need to be bled. Steam heat does not. Here are instructions for bleeding hot water radiators. Still would like to know if there are more than one thermostat. Would be able to help you out better.


    https://www.wikihow.com/Bleed-a-Radiator


    https://www.uswitch.com/energy-saving/guides/how-to-bleed-a-radiator/


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IP54Kbgnv0

  • William William on Dec 17, 2017

    Another question I have. Are there pumps at the boiler and how many.

    • See 1 previous
    • Joy Joy on Dec 18, 2017

      I only saw one pump.

  • William William on Dec 17, 2017

    OK! Baseboard heaters means its hot water heat. Boiler does not cap off at set temperature. Only one boiler for all units, right? How many pumps on the boiler?

    • Joy Joy on Dec 18, 2017

      If I had to guess I would say one. I am trying to get over and see today.

  • V Smith V Smith on Dec 18, 2017

    It is a 2 person task. One person is in the basement adding water to the system and a second person goes to each radiator and bleeds off the air. We used to tap on the radiator to communicate when we were at the radiator and when we got water because the person in the basement has to open and close a valve to let water into the system and shut it of while the person upstairs moves to the next radiator. The radiator is bled using a special key (looks like a small skate key, if you are old enough to remember metal skates) that opens the small valve at the end. Once water comes out of the valve you shut it off with the key and tell the person in the basement that you got water, then they shut off the valve until you get to the next radiator. You only want to add enough water to the system to replace the air. It isn't hard to do and communicating via cell phones may be better than banging on the radiator, but it takes at least 2 people. I think if you go to YouTube there might be a video.

  • V Smith V Smith on Dec 18, 2017

    Yep, just checked it is on YouTube. (Isn't everything?)

  • William William on Dec 18, 2017

    Probably not one pump. With three units and one boiler I would assume three pumps. Each unit thermostat would turn on the pump for that unit. Will wait for more.