# Forced Water Baseboard Heating Won't Turn Off



## Dream (Nov 2, 2011)

I guess this is not the worst problem you can have with your heaters. They work, but they stay on. I have 3 zones in the house, the zone in the kitchen stays on and keeps that area at around 67 degrees. I changed the thermostat to a programmable digital honeywell, mainly because I want to program but also as a lucky guess. No dice. 

I'm not sure how to check the wiring on the furnace, but when I connect the R and W wires the furnace does turn on. I watched this video, which was nice on describing the pieces of the system, but all the troubleshooting on there, (and on the rest of the web, for that matter) are all about heaters that won't turn on. I had this issue in the summer, and the room was getting around 80 degrees, but I just closed the return valve as a cheap fix. I just moved in as a caretaker to this old, old old (1820's) house, so I'm getting used to all the problems. Let me know if you need pictures, and what you'd want them of. 

Thanks,
Chad


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## paul52446m (Nov 2, 2011)

Dream said:


> I guess this is not the worst problem you can have with your heaters. They work, but they stay on. I have 3 zones in the house, the zone in the kitchen stays on and keeps that area at around 67 degrees. I changed the thermostat to a programmable digital honeywell, mainly because I want to program but also as a lucky guess. No dice.
> 
> I'm not sure how to check the wiring on the furnace, but when I connect the R and W wires the furnace does turn on. I watched this video, which was nice on describing the pieces of the system, but all the troubleshooting on there, (and on the rest of the web, for that matter) are all about heaters that won't turn on. I had this issue in the summer, and the room was getting around 80 degrees, but I just closed the return valve as a cheap fix. I just moved in as a caretaker to this old, old old (1820's) house, so I'm getting used to all the problems. Let me know if you need pictures, and what you'd want them of.
> 
> ...


Do you have three zone valves? What name brand are they? How many wires
 are on the zone valves?   Does the thermostat wires go to the zone valves?
 How old is you boiler?
 You could have a zone stuck open. Someone did some wiring wrong.
Is the boiler in a basement?
 If you want to sent me pic.    [email protected]         Paul


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## Dream (Nov 3, 2011)

Paul,

I have 3 circulating pumps, but I traced the return lines and I only have these Taco 241 Flo-Check valves Taco Valves Taco Flo-Chek Valve

I don't think I have any zone valves as there are no wires going to the return lines.Is that possible? This is my first experience with baseboard heaters, so pardon my ignorance. The boiler is an Ultimate PFO-6T but I have no idea when it was installed. The boiler is in the basement. I emailed you a picture of the a few valves and the faceplate.

Thanks so much for your help!


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## paul52446m (Nov 3, 2011)

Dream said:


> Paul,
> 
> I have 3 circulating pumps, but I traced the return lines and I only have these Taco 241 Flo-Check valves Taco Valves Taco Flo-Chek Valve
> 
> ...


On the old boilers they wired them different ways One way would let boiler maintain temp and the pump were turned on by the stats.
 Or your pump relays you could have a burner cur cit that turn on pump and boiler on when a stat calls for heat. Ether way if the boiler is in the basement it is important to have all loops going through a flow control or it can gravity flow and over heat. It sounds like that is what is happening.
If the heat and pump was stuck on, then it would really over heat.  Paul


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## Dream (Nov 3, 2011)

Yeah, I don't think the pump is on, I would definitely hear it. What do you think that unknown valve that I sent you is? I don't know why they wouldn't put a flow control valve on the kitchen, but that sounds like what is happening. To replace it, do I just drain that zone and cut out pipe and put in a new one? Sounds pretty straight forward.


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## paul52446m (Nov 3, 2011)

Dream said:


> Yeah, I don't think the pump is on, I would definitely hear it. What do you think that unknown valve that I sent you is? I don't know why they wouldn't put a flow control valve on the kitchen, but that sounds like what is happening. To replace it, do I just drain that zone and cut out pipe and put in a new one? Sounds pretty straight forward.



That unknown valve looks like it has a adjustment on the end of it, so i would guess that it is  either a flow control, or a balancing valve. most the old flow control valves could be adjusted to open on pump pressure or adjust on out so they can gravity flow. 
 You would have to drain it down to change it. then recharge and get air out.
For me this would be simple,but i have been doing this for 42 years.
 First i would want to know if the auto feed valve is working, so it will re feed the water into the system.    Paul   PS read the specks here
http://www.pexsupply.com/Taco-219-4-3-4-CxC-Horizontal-Bronze-Taco-Flo-Chek-1989000-p


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## Dream (Nov 3, 2011)

Okay, I went down and checked that valve again. The thumbscrew was all the way open. I did a little reading and I believe it should be closed to prevent gravity circulation. It screwed down fairly easy so we'll see in the morning if the room has cooled down. I'll check back tomorrow with more info.

Thanks,
Chad


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## Dream (Nov 4, 2011)

That fixed it. Maybe the circulation pump lost power and someone opened that valve to get some gravity heat. I closed it and the room was down to 52 degrees this morning. I tested the heater to make sure the valve was functioning and the baseboards are getting hot. Thanks so much for your help, paul. Very easy fix, would have probably cost me $100 to have an HVAC tech come out (not to mention the embarrassment). Thanks again!

Chad


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## paul52446m (Nov 4, 2011)

Dream said:


> That fixed it. Maybe the circulation pump lost power and someone opened that valve to get some gravity heat. I closed it and the room was down to 52 degrees this morning. I tested the heater to make sure the valve was functioning and the baseboards are getting hot. Thanks so much for your help, paul. Very easy fix, would have probably cost me $100 to have an HVAC tech come out (not to mention the embarrassment). Thanks again!
> 
> Chad



If you ever get up to Houghton Lake Mi. You can buy me a coffee.
  Later Paul


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## Dream (Nov 4, 2011)

Definitely will make it out there someday. Coffee sounds like a good trade.


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## Emilie1 (Nov 23, 2013)

I have an apartment complex with 16 units, 2 of the apartments aren't getting heat. I have drawn out the water in the front room and the water is cold, I keep it running until it gets hot on the baseboard heaters. once I take the hose off the  heater gets cold again


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