balancing a baseboard heating system

[Anonymous]

I have recently installed a new gas boiler and circulating pump in the baseboard heating system of my home. Also, a section of radiator was removed from the system. After noticing that my heating bills were rather high, and finding that the circulating pump seams to be constantly running, I was informed that I need to have my system balanced.

Is balancing this system something I can do, or do I need to call on an expert?

Note: the hot water being circulated in the system does not pass THROUGH any of the radiators. That is, the radiators are not in series with the heating pipes. Rather, the radiators are mounted parallel to the heating system pipes.

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

Since you already did the majority of the work . And since you knew enough to use a parellel system of piping Then I dont mind teling you to look into NON electric Zone valves to fine tune your heating system.

Now that you are going to save a fortune on your heating bills and you can control theEXACT amount of heat required in each room I would strongly suggest you hire a Licensed Master plumber/ Gas fitter to thoughly CHECK out the boiler to prevent spillage from entering your home. A Master plumber can also check for the proper hook up of the potable water connections to prevent you getting sick from a cross connection. Having a professional
to check your gas piping to make sure you can get the required CU FT of fuel required for complete combustion.

Have the LMP check for a low water cut off EVEN on residencial boilers to prevent melt down.

Have a spill switch installed and learn how to test your boiler controls . The installation of a boiler is SIMPLE the proper connections are everything good Luck… SylvanLMP Check out PLUMBVIEWS on the bottom of this page and read some of the articles written about DO IT yourself installations..

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SylvanLMP
[Edited by SylvanLMP on 24 March 2000]

[hjParticipant]

Balancing the system will only insure that the various rooms will be approximately the same temperature and will heat up and cool down approximately the same. Unless some rooms are getting very warm and others, especially the one near the thermostat, are cooler, that is not your problem. If you have a monoflo system, which is what you imply, then the individual baseboard units may have valves on them.Closing the valves on the warmer units is about the extent of balancing that you can do. There can be several reasons for your problem, but with the pump and boiler both running, then the heat has to go somewhere or else the boiler would eventually shut down in an overheated state.

[Author]

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