No baseboard heat upstairs?

[jkries]

We are experiencing our first winter in a house that was built around 1955.
The heat came on for the first time this week. Our heat is water baseboard.
The ground floor is heating up just fine, but upstairs we get nothing.

What should I check to figure out what is going on?

[HayZee518]

look around on the second floor for a thermostat and turn it up to a set point. your house probably has two heating zones. In the basement on the heat manifold you'll see a green and brass colored valve. This is either an ASCO or TACO zone valve. On the return line is a recirculator pump that runs all the time.

[jkries]

Only 1 Zone...

Believe it or not, we only have 1 zone in the house.
I was reading some other posts that say that it sometimes takes a while for the heat to reach the top floor and if you keep the heat too low, it may never reach it.

I put the heat up high enough to keep running and the baseboards upstairs did eventually start to get hot.

Is there a pressure issue that can be fixed to solve this or is this just the nature of the beast with 2 floors and only 1 zone?

Thanks!

[BenderHeel]

I'm a novice myself, but how big is your house? And is your thermostat on your first floor? Your circulator might not be big enough to pump the hot water through the entire house (if on a single loop) by the time the area where your thermostat is located gets to the set temp.

[jkries]

Big house...

The house is average size. I think around 2000 square feet. There are 4 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs with baseboard heat.

You may be right. How can I verify?

[BenderHeel]

The house is average size. I think around 2000 square feet. There are 4 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs with baseboard heat.

You may be right. How can I verify?

I'm only going by what my plumber told me since we might have the same issue, though to a much less degree that you're experiencing. If the room where the thermostat is located gets hot water right away and increases the room temp to what you have set, the system will turn off before your baseboards upstairs have an opportunity to get hot. You can also feel the return water pipe that's bringing the water back into the boiler; if it's not hot to the touch when the system is turning off, then that should tell you that the circulator isn't pumping strong enough. Apparently circulators aren't that expensive though (at least that's what my plumber told me), so it might be worth upgrading.

[mrcaptainbob]

Upstairs heat...

Check each radiator upstairs. There should be an air relief valve at the end. There may be an air bubble that needs to be let loose. One more point to consider...my son had a similar problem and found the water supply to the furnace valvbe was shut off. It's the valve on the supply side of the furnace pressure regulator. Once he o0pned that he had upstairs heat.