Gibbstown, NJ · Greenwich Township
The boiler runs, but radiators or baseboard stay cold
When the boiler fires and the rooms stay cold, the heat is being made but not delivered. The usual causes are air trapped in the pipes, a circulator pump that stopped, low system pressure, or a stuck zone valve.
The line takes calls around the clock, every day of the year.
Read the pattern
One radiator cold at the top, warm at the bottom. Air is trapped in it. Bleeding the radiator's small valve with a key, with a cup under it, until water comes out steadily usually fixes it.
Every radiator cold, boiler hot. The circulator may not be running. Put a hand near the pump: it should hum and feel warm. A pump that is silent or very hot is a common repair.
One zone cold, others fine. On a system with several thermostats, each zone has a valve or its own pump. One stuck valve leaves one part of the house cold.
Pressure gauge near zero. A hot-water system needs some pressure to push water to the upper floor. If it keeps falling, there is a leak.
Steam is different
A steam system has a sight glass on the boiler, and radiator vents instead of bleed valves. Cold steam radiators often mean a stuck vent or pipes that no longer pitch back toward the boiler. Tell the line it is steam.
Older houses, older piping
Census estimates for ZIP 08027 count about 47% of homes built before 1960. Piping in houses that age may have been changed several times, with radiators removed, rooms added, or a boiler swapped for one of a different size. Uneven heat in those houses is often a piping question as much as a boiler one.
What to say when you call
- Hot water or steam, and oil or gas
- Which rooms or floors are cold
- What the pressure gauge reads, or the water level in the sight glass
- Whether you have bled radiators, and what came out
- Address and ZIP code
Have the fuel, the age and the thermostat reading ready. Then call and ask who is taking work in your ZIP code.
Call (888) 217-3739