QUESTION FROM Kyle Hoogendoorn

Hello,

I moved into my brothers condo 4 months ago, in the fall. The weather started to turn cold and since then my hot water baseboards
in my apartment. there are two thermostats in my place, one for the bedroom and one for the rest of the 600 square foot condo. I have taken the thermostat that controls the main part of the apartment right off the wall but the baseboards wont turn off..... My place is sitting at 28 C !! I am on the ground floor which is about 3 to 4 feet bellow ground level (my windows are just above the sidewalk. The pipes are continuously hot and I can not find the pump. (only box on the pipe that I can see is the one in the bedroom on a separate thermostat).

How do I fix this, or are my baseboards designed to be on constantly to keep them from freezing since I am slightly below ground level?

I also went into the main furnace room for the building but can not see any piping that would be going to my apartment specifically. (three story building with 12 apartments).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Kyle:

A couple of questions regarding your problem of your baseboard heating system not shutting off:

1) Are you have the same problem with both heating zones?

2) When you disconnected the thermostat from the wall, were you careful not to let the wires touch that are coming through the wall?

3) Can you tell where the wires from the thermostat connect to the furnace (they will be the same color wires as you see coming through the wall to your thermostat)?

If you can find where the thermostat wires connect to your furnace (and you are comfortable that you can work safely around electrical wires around your furnace), you can disconnect these wires and see if then your furnace and recirculation pumps turn off. If you are certain that the wires are not touching where you removed the thermostat, and the furnace turns off when you disconnect the thermostat wires at the furnace, then the problem is likely that you have a short circuit somewhere in the thermostat wiring.

Regarding your question about baseboards heating systems being designed to run continuously because your condo is partially underground, no this is not typically done. And actually, being partially underground will keep your condo warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Gene

Water leaking out of the top of CONTROL 15 expansion tank

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Gene:

Here is a link to a page that describes how to diagnose problems with the expansion tank for a hot water baseboard heating system:

http://homerepair.about.com/od/heatingcoolingrepair/ss/trblsht_boiler_5.htm

Did you actually mean an "AMTROL" 15 expansion tank? This model expansion tank comes pre-charged from the manufacturer at 12 psi. If you are seeing water leaking out of the top of it, I'm wondering if the piping connection is loose there, and the water that is leaking is coming from your heating system, rather than from the expansion tank itself.

Here is a link to an operating manual for it: http://s3.pexsupply.com/manuals/1249544554380/extrolbroch.pdf

And here is the customer service phone number for Amtrol: 401-884-6300

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM chris cilley

base board hot water heater wont stop heating on 1 zone just replaced the t-stat and it did not help this t--stat has a on and off switch and i turned it off for a day and then back on and the heat worked nornally for a week and now it is doing the same thing again i shut the t-stat back off and this time it keeps heating is there any resirculator pump wiring issues to look for?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Chris:

Since you have already tried turning your thermostat to the "off" position, the next thing to try is to remove the thermostat from the wall, and be sure that the wires from the wall are not touching. If the heat for this zone turns off, then the problem is likely your new thermostat.

If it does not turn off, then try disconnecting the wires from this thermostat at the furnace. If the heat for this zone now turns off, then the problem is likely in the wiring between the furnace and thermostat.

If that still doesn't stop the heat from coming on, then it is likely that the control board at your furnace is bad.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com