Radiators do not heat house evenly

[MasterPlumbers]

We have a home built in 1913 which has radiators. All the radiators get hot, but no matter what we do, the downstairs seems like it has no heat at all, and the upstairs is toasty warm. What do we do? We noticed there are little valves on the top of the radiators, should we be using them? How do we get even heat? Please help!!!

[SylvanLMP]

If you have a hot water system (hydronics) you can use non electric zone valves on the supply OR the return line if this is NOT a loop system to balance out the heat where you want it.

If it is a hot water system you could also try bleeding out the air from the cold radiators.

If it is a Steam (vapor) system you should change ALL your air vents using the smallest orifice sized valve closest to the boiler.
By properly sizing your air vents the system will balance out properly.

If your not sure then HIRE A LICENSED Plumber to teach you how to properly maintain this GREAT SYSTEM

[Guest]

I have a similar problem. The house is about 15 years old and recently only the upstairs radiators heat up when the central heating is switcvhed on. Why is this – aren’t they all on one inter-connecetd flowing system ? What should i try first ?

[Guest]

To further this story, I must state that all of the radiators in the house get quite hot. There does not seem to be any problem with the flow of water to each radiator, it just seems like somehow we should get more heat from the downstairs radiators – they are quite large. Does it have anything to do with the valves at the top of the radiators? It looks like there should be some kind of “key” to open them, but we do not have one. Should we be able to open them and allow steam/heat? All those technical terms really do not help us too much right now, and I can not get a plumber till late next week to come look at them. Any more help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Author]

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