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nickkaylee
Jan 25, 2011, 07:16 AM
We have a two-story home with forced hot water. Our furnace is in the basement. The other night it was VERY cold (-18) degrees, and we woke up to a cold bedroom on the second floor (54 degrees). There is no heat making it to the second floor. I read online to try bleeding the radiators, but it seems none of the radiators on the second floor have a drain valve. Can anyone give me some ideas on what to try, and tell me how to do them? I can't call in someone to fix it until payday (next week), and it is too cold to wait.

EPMiller
Jan 25, 2011, 07:42 PM
Man, my wife would be happy with 54 degrees in the bedroom. Ours in always in the 40's when the outdoor is below freezing. Electric heat, lots of glass, old house, lousy insulation. Down comforters are great, but I digress.

Do you have radiators, convectors or baseboard heat? You are not looking for a drain valve, but a bleed valve. The bleeder is always at the high point on the heating unit. If the original installer was any good, there should be one on every heating unit or run. On radiators they are easy to find unless they are under a shroud. Convectors are inside at one end. Cast iron baseboard is usually easy too, but they can be hidden in the end caps. Finned tube baseboard is usually the one where they cheap out and don't put them in. But often you can find one at one end of the run at the top of an elbow where the tube comes through the floor. If there absolutely are NONE, then you have to flush the air out of the zone by pressure. Go to the Taco website and in the FAQs look for the question about a homeowner replacing a 007 circulator. Taco-Hvac: Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.taco-hvac.com/en/faq.html#) The second half of that answer will tell you how to purge a zone that doesn't have bleeders. Without more information on your system, I really can't give a better answer.