How to Fix Cold Heating Baseboards - FAQs

Diagnose cold, cool, or tepid heat baseboards
Baseboard heat noises
Baseboard heat odors & smells

Baseboard Heat Noises

What causes our heating baseboards to make clicking or popping noises when heat comes on?

When the baseboard system begins to heat the room the baseboard begins to make sounds like popping or expanding. What cause this to happen? On 2021-03-10 by phil

Reply by (mod) - Thermal expansion of metal parts causes popping, ticking, or clicking noises at baseboard heaters as heat comes on

That's a normal heating system noise caused by thermal expansion of materials, usually the piping itself. Metal parts are moving across one another or in some cases across other building materials, such as a heating copper pipe that expands at its passage through flooring or subflooring.

The noise will be louder and more extensive if heating piping or materials are routed through building materials like floors without any clearance space.

See details at THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS

Banging from baseboard heating pipes

I have baseboard, hot water, furnace heating and shortly after my heating system turns itself off I hear a loud banging noise that comes from the last convector in the loop.

I'm guessing that its bound up air but I frequently bleed the air from this last convector yet I still hear this banging noise.

What else can it be? (Mar 15, 2015) Jeff D.

Reply:

You should not have to be frequently bleeding air out of a baseboard.

Either there is air left in the system that finds its way to the baseboard or there is a leak to find and fix.

A loud bang may be water hammer caused when a circulator of zone valve closes.

InspectAPedia has articles that offer solutions.

• BANGING HEATING PIPES RADIATORS
• BANGING HEATING ZONE VALVES
• THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS - normal heating and cooling noises

Ask your heating company for some diagnostic help,

Watch out: banging pipes can ultimately be unsafe as it can cause relief valve leaks.

What causes knocking cast iron baseboard heaters?

So I have a hot water fed cast iron baseboard heating system. One of the baseboard units knocks at night when the heat comes on.

I bled it and every unit in the house but found no air in them, straight stream of water from each one. Any other thoughts? (Oct 30, 2015) Andrew

Reply:

Sure, Andrew, just search inspectApedia website (see the search box just above)

for BANGING HEATING PIPES RADIATORS

to see some useful diagnostics for both hot water and steam systems. I suspect a noisy valve or a problem that's keeping you from successfully getting all of the air out of the rad.

and also see AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - home

Cause & cure for creaking baseboard sounds

I have a hot water heating baseboard and it makes very loud pinging and creaking sounds. It is only in the one baseboard in our master bedroom. All other baseboards in the house make the normal crackling sound. I bled the line and the sounds are still happening.

Other than air issues, what else could be causing these annoying sounds? (Mar 9, 2012) Damian

How do I reduce the noises, clicks, clanks of my baseboards? (Jan 28, 2014) Noisy Baseboards

Reply:

Damian usually the heating baseboard sounds you describe are due to thermal expansion of the copper piping, perhaps combined with some binding of the piping where it passes through building floors or walls, or over mounts.

Try using a mechanic's stethoscope to see if you can track down exactly where the noise is occurring;

Often placement of a small piece of heat-resistant plastic between moving surfaces or enlarging an opening for piping is all that's needed.

See OIL BURNER CLANKING RATTLING NOISE

Is it normal to hear a low but still audible sound of flowing water coming from the copper baseboard

I live in a building condo that uses hot water baseboard heating. Is it normal to hear a low but still audible sound of flowing water coming from the copper which carry the hot water through the system?

Is it reasonable to expect that such a heating system should be completely silent when not in use/off?

Side-note: I do not have direct access to the main water pump or boiler. 5/25/14 Rob

Reply: usually that means there's air in the piping - risking loss of or diminished heat

Rob

"Normal" is not quite what I'd offer. It's common to hear some sound in hot water heating piping and most often that is an indicator that there is air in the system. If that's the case and the air quantity becomes significant, the system can become airbound and you'll simply have no heat.

When the system is not in use, it should not be making noise. If yours is making noise I wonder if hot water is circulating by convection, perhaps because a check valve is not working or was omitted.

Followup by rob

I suspect one reason might be a faulty actuator valve assembly. Is it possible that the valve in that assembly could be faulty and not closing properly, resulting in a flowing water noise?
I have been experiencing the noise 24/7.

It also loudly bangs, once at a time, when the thermostat opens the valve (or when I set it to 'open'), but this occurs intermittently and usually only after it has been left open after some time.

When the valve is closed after it has been left open (during the night for instance), I hear an immediate steady build up in the pipes and then a loud, single bang.

What could that indicate?

For the record I've only done a hours worth of internet research.

Reply:

Rob if you are referring to a zone valve that's not closing when it should, that would allow heat to circulate when you don't want it.

But still unless there is air in the piping the water circulating noise is usually close to zero.

The loud banging sounds like a water hammer problem occurring in the heating system. Usually that's associated with higher velocity water circulation. Certainly it's abnormal.

You can easily determine if a zone valve or check valve is open when it should be shut: with the affected zone NOT calling for heat, after a hour or so since last call for heat, feel the heating pipes on either size of the valve. If the piping is hot on both inlet and outlet sides of the valve then it's most likely "open".

Cause of pinging sound from heating baseboards

Hi our baseboard is making a "pinging" noise when the system kicks on. Is this the fins? Or the pipe shifting positions as it fills with water? (Oct 27, 2014) Aaron said:

Reply:

This is typically caused by thermal movement of the baseboard covers and on occasion the piping where it passes over supports or through wall, floor or ceiling penetrations. You may hear it again as the system cools down.

Changing to noisless pipe supports and providing insulated clearance at penetrations can cut this noise down significantly.

I hear a whooshing sound in gas fired boiler baseboards

I've just rented a barn of a town house with an open floor plan. It has gas hot water baseboard heating and what a believe is a 4 zone (but I do see 5 pipes coming out of the boiler).

The living room area has one baseboard running along the complete front of the living room and another smaller one under the window at the far end of the room in the dining area next to the open kitchen.

It sits over the boiler room in the garage area.

The kitchen has a 2 smaller baseboards at the far end basically installed in an L shape next to a patio door and under a window on the adjoining wall.

There are 2 thermostats, one for air conditioning on a short far short LR wall that separates the kitchen from the LR/dining area. The thermostat that controls the entire LR/DR/kitchen heat area is located in a small hallway around the corner from the air conditioning thermostat.

This latter thermostat rarely gets over 68 degrees no matter how high it is set and often drops a degree or 2 during the day and evening. Because of this and the fact that builder's plumber obviously had limited skills, (2 of the zones sound like machine guns going off when boiler kicks in.

I realize I'm stuck with this sound unless he knocks down ceilings to repair it) but in my bedroom, there was a whooshing sound every 20 minutes or so. In addition, the thermostat didn't always respond as did the one in my family room. The inferior plumber came in and supposedly drained the pipes of air and nothing changed. He returned again and supposedly drained the pipes.

The whooshing has stopped but my biggest problem of the downstairs area maintaining thermostat heat has not been resolved.

FYI, the radiators are on but not necessarily hot (I'm sensitive to heat and can easily touch them) but when they are in a mood to respond to the thermostat increase I can hear a click at which point the heat rises but rarely to the thermostat setting or my desired temperature.

When the thermostat (which was not programmable) stopped responding to my attempt to increase the heat, thinking if I turn it to 90 it would kick in, instead I watched the heat decrease from 65 to 64, I finally called another plumber/heating co.

He had me turn all the thermostats off and then on again one by one and told me there was no problem he could determine. He also assured me that after he left, the main floor area thermostat which was now set to 70. would eventually reach my desired temperature of 68 from the 66 it was registering, but to give it 2 hours.

He also suggested I replace the main floor, bedroom and family room thermostats and buy thermometers to place around the main floor area to see if the temp matched the thermostats. 1 3/4 hours later and just before I left the house, the temperature dropped to 65.

Three and a half hours later on my return it had returned to 66. I reset it to 75 and about 5 minutes later I heard the heat kick in. An hour later it was at 68 and 2 hours later it had again dropped to 66. I heeded heating guy #2's advice and the three thermostats were replaced on December 30.

Today, although set at 68 the temp registered 64 degrees. 1 1/2 hours later it hadn't moved. I turned it off and reset thermostat to 76. the radiators remained warm but not hot. I reset the new thermostat to 90 and the temp reached 65 and has remained at 65 until just 5:15 ( 5 ½ hours later) when it hit 66.

Below are the previous suggestions and explanations I have received to solve the problem:

-It's cold out so don't turn down the thermostat below 64 degrees at night so it doesn't have to work so hard to reach the set temperature. I haven't but it doesn't seem to matter as it rarely hits target temp.

-The small dining room heater doesn't come on because it's right over the boiler room. But the end of the room heater does come on because by the time the hot water runs to it, it has cooled and so it responds.

(FYI, it does not necessarily do so all the time.)

-It will take longer to reach thermostat setting because of the outside temperature. (Should it take days?)

-The baseboard heater at the end of the room is insufficient for the space. (Only comment that makes sense to me).

-Leave the door open to my office which is about 7 1/2 feet away from the main thermostat and is on a separate zone and thermostat and works perfectly.

(This way I can get the temp on the thermostat to raise without actually getting any actual increased heat into the room. I do believe they think I am the village idiot)

-Give it 3 hours to meet its target temperature. It will. (It didn't and hasn't)

Because the landlord and plumbers are treating me like the village idiot and telling me there is no problem when I am living one, I have been keeping a heating log since December 17th.

FYI, there appears to be only a small relationship between the outdoor temperature and the time it takes for the thermostat to reach the set temperature - when and if it does. I’ve never been able to get it over 69 degrees. For example:

outside temp 38 took 5 hours to move 8 degrees;

outside temp 43 took 2 1/2 hours to move 5 degrees;

outside temp 41 took 2 hours to move 6 degrees;

outside temp 34 took 2 hours 10 minutes to move 8 degrees;

outside temp 22 took 10 hours to reach 68 - thermostat was set to 70 degrees.

I don't know if it's helpful but I just came across the Whirlpool Air Handler instructions and the model # is either WAHU or WAHM 065937400. Any potential solutions you can possibly provide for me to pass along to the next heating person would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks so very much for providing this valuable service.
Lisa On 2018-01-01 by Lisa

Suggestions by mod

Watch out: first, for safety, be sure that the whooshing sound you hear is not a malfunctioning gas burner at the boiler - ask your heating service technician for a safety check right away.

To understand those issues

see GAS BURNER FLAME & NOISE DEFECTS

Then if that's not the issue look at

• AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - air in the hot water heating pipes can make the noise you describe

If it's not that, then see

• HEATING SYSTEM NOISE DIAGNOSIS 

Baseboard Heat Circulator Troubleshooting

Hot heating water isn't making it to our baseboards. Is it the circulator pump?

No water going to baseboards. is circulator pump - On 2018-10-17 by john

by (mod) - thermostat or heat won't turn off? Airbound baseboards?

John, there are several possible causes and fixes, all organized at

AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - home

Take a look and post further questions or results after you give those diagnosis and repair steps a try. Some of them are easily done by a homeowner.

Daniel

Who can check to see if my circulator pump is working and properly installed?

Hi - I need to find someone to check my baseboards - bleed air, determine if circulator pump is working properly and is right size.

One zone of my 3-zone house outside Boston, Massachusetts has not been heating properly this winter.

Who should I look for to help me with this? If you can refer me to a specific company, great. If not, a general description of who I should look for is fine. Thanks, Lee -On 2019-03-10

Reply by (mod)

Lee: your heating service technician can certainly tell you if your circulator pump is running and properly-sized.

But when you've got just one cold heating zone your tech may want to check first to see if that zone is air-bound

If air in the heating system piping isn't purged (as it should be by automatic air bleeders) it can accumulate until it actually blocks the flow of hot water through the zone. Then that heating zone will be cold.

To read how we diagnose and fix that trouble

see

AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS - home

- some of those repairs or checks can be done even by an inexperienced homeowner and that might get your heat working quickly and without needing a service call. - DF

Baseboard Heater Freeze-Up FAQs

How to diagnose & fix recurrent hot water heat freeze-up problem

I have hot water baseboard system boiler in my crawlspace (.Basement) I'm thinking about replacing the boiler with a horizontal warm air furnace Adams furnace. I keep getting freeze ups and they are very difficult to repair.

The furnace Adams make is supposed to be 95 percent efficient. Plus the fact there are no pipes to freeze is the warm air furnace the way to go? Thanks Paul - (June 19, 2014)

Reply: Sorting out: hot air heat (furnace, forced warm air) is different from baseboard heat (water or electric)

Paul,

You were commenting about hot water and hot air heat on a steam heat article - so this may be a bit confusing to other readers, but in general, conversion to another heating method is fine if you can bear the expense; each heating type has its pros and cons so IMO there is not a single "right" answer.

Keep in mind that when you change from steam heat or hot water heat to forced warm air heat, your costs are much greater than just the heater itself as you have to install a heat delivery system : air ducts and registers. That can be convenient in some building designs and quite costly in others.

See details at ANTIFREEZE for BOILERS

and at WINTERIZE A BUILDING

Baseboard Heater Installation & Plumbing

Trouble bleeding air out of newly-installed baseboard heaters

Photo above: air bleeder valve on new h eating baseboard installation, not in best position. Better to put the bleeder facing upright and at the high end of a baseboard run. Annotations added by InspectApedia.

Hello. I have installed two new 8 ft baseboard hydronic radiators in my basement that I'm refinishing.

I simply came off the supply and return lines that are located in my basement already. The new rads start to get warm and their respective supply lines get pretty hot, but then they cool quickly and the rads never get hot.

The rest of the house is fine still.

Is it too hard for the return flow to push 8ft vertically? And is that why the rads don't get hot? There is no air in the line that I can find. Do i need a bigger circulator pump? Thanks for the help! On 2020-01-19 by Stephen

by (mod) - where have you installed air bleeders?

I would check first for a partial air blockage; where have you installed air bleeders?

by Stephen

I installed them coming off the return line. I attached a photo. [Shown above]

Reply by (mod) - air bleeder shown in better (upright) orientation

Stephen in my OPINION where you have that bleeder is ok - it won't hurt a thing, but it'd be more effective on a high point in the piping. Notice how the return branches towards the wall horizontally (at your bleeder elbow) and then runs UP?

Any air in the system wants to be in that up-line so if that line has a turn somewhere, a bleeder elbow there will be helpful.

Air in heating lines is really sneaky. You can get a "partial" blockage of air in the horizontal lines in which some water gets by but an air bubble is obstructing much of the flow.

You'll know when you've got the air out because assuming the boiler is hot and the circulator is running, when the meddlesome air blob is removed the baseboard lines will get quite hot in just a few minutes.

You'll notice that I try to position my bleeder valves on elbows such that the valve is upright and catches air rising.

See details at AIR BLEED VALVE INSTALLATION

More air bleeders are good at every high point in the piping, and of course you can add float type automatic air bleeders as well as manual ones.

Then if air bleeding at these little valves isn't enough, see two other methods we use to get rid of air (water feeder valve or a pony pump to push water through the system and get air out) at

AIR-BOUND HEATING SYSTEMS

by Stephen - If I got all the air out and baseboards are still cold what else do I look for?

Thanks for the information. So if I was to assume I got all the air out, is there anything else I should be looking for?

I don't understand why the rads start to get warm and then pitter out. There is another rad for upstairs that is further down the same return line that I spliced into and that one is fine.

To me it almost seems like the water on the supply side is not able to push through the rad and go through the return line. It starts to because the radiator starts to warm but then stops quite suddenly. It's infuriating lol. I used orange pex with an o2 barrier to supply and return the water.

Does that negatively affect something? I also cut into 1/2 inch supply and return line is that not a big enough pipe?

further back on the supply and return it's a larger pipe that's either 3/4 or an inch in diameter. Should I splice into there?

I also had taken the two return lines from the two radiators and teed them together and then ran one line back up to the main return is that my problem maybe do I need to separate return lines? Any help is much appreciated.

by (mod) - diagnose poor heating and possible air blockage

Stephen

When I've had poor heating issues like this it's often been because I thought all the air was out of the piping when it wasn't, so that's my first focus.

For example, you might bleed a bolus of air near a bleeder valve but the next heat-on cycle may push some air from downstream in the system to the same point.

That's a reason to be sure to bleed the entire system and to install float type air vents at high points at the boiler and at the highest other points in the building.

Other possibilities could be a solder blob blockage if in soldering a joint you pushed too much solder into the connection.

And yes there can be a flow problem at tees in copper baseboard piping.

For example at a left and right tee feeding 2 sub-zone loops, if one of those loops, say the left one, is longer or higher than the other, say the right one, then the lower-resistance loop will get more hot water.

Plumbers may install a balancing valve on loops to fix the problem. The balancing valve can be anywhere in each loop that's convenient.

Less likely on a new installation like yours there are indeed other reasons that you might not get heat:

The boiler isn't hot

The circulator pump relay isn't working or

The circulator pump isn't running or

The circulator pump runs but has a damaged impeller or broken coupling (on some older B&G pumps)

by Stephen

Thanks I really appreciate the advice. I'll take a look at adding an auto bleeder and relocating my bleeder as well. Hopefully it's just air and I'll get it out.

OK to run heating return line over the heating baseboard finned tubing?

Hello, is it ok to run a return under or over the finned tube in a baseboard system? (July 17, 2014) Dan said:

Reply:

Dan,

Yes, it's a common practice to double back the heating baseboard return lline over or even under the finned tubing when the building properties prevent a normal loop plumbing arrangement.

Watch out that your return line doesn't block air flow from entering at the under-side of the baseboard cover

Dan said:

Will this reduce efficiency?

Reply:

Possibly if the air flow over the finned tubing is blocked by the solid tubing, but in situations where there is no choice the heat requirement dominates the decision.

Add extra footage if you worry about insufficient BTUs.

Can I add more baseboard without shutting down the system?

Can additional hydronic baseboard elements be added without shutting down the line?

I want to add approx 3ft to existing baseboard.

Is there a means to tap into the existing line while it is in operation (iike tapping into a water line to add a filter etc a little pet cock) On 2020-01-09 by Ernest Stover

Reply by (mod) -

Ernest

Although I have not come across their use in adding heating baseboards, there are plumbing techniques that permit a plumber to cut into a water filled line when the water cannot be shut off.

There are also piercing valves that can be retrofit over an existing water line and that screw down a point to puncture the line, but in my opinon the water flow would be far too small to be useful in a heating application.

There's also a pipe freezing technique or you can install a quick-and-easy Shark-Bite shutoff valve.

In our plumbing articles I have also described a really neat invention that a Mexican plumber showed me he had built that inserts into an active water line and uses an expanding plug to temporarily block the line, but I don't think that's going to be suitable for your application.

Of course the freezing technique would expect that the heat is off in the system is cool.

Alternatives that will work for you are all summarized

at EMERGENCY WATER SHUTOFF VALVE

In any case you're still going to need to bleed air from the system when the additional feet of baseboard have been connected.

See this SHARKBITE® INSTALLATION GUIDE [PDF] (2018) SharkBite Plumbing Solutions, SharkBite USA 2300 Defoor Hills Rd. NW Atlanta, GA 30318 USA Tel: 1-877-700-4242

SharkBite Canada 74 Alex Avenue Vaughan, Ontario, L4L 5X1 Canada, tel: 1-888-820-0120 retrieved 2020/01/19 original source: https://www.sharkbite.com/

Baseboard heaters started working after I replaced a SharkBite Coupling

Hey Everybody. I just discovered a very silly solution to some baseboard heaters that suddenly stopped working after a repair was made on one of the lines.

I accidentally installed one of the shark bite couplers backwards (face palm).

After draining the lines, I removed the shark bite (and got blasted with some pressurized water that had been trying too hard to go the wrong way), reversed the coupler, refilled the system, bled the system (for about the 5th time) and BEHOLD!

Hot Heaters! On 2020-11-15 by Nicholas

Hallelujah!

Hope this helps someone. Blessings, Nicholas

by danjoefriedman (mod) - shark bite couplings

Thank you for your comment.

However I'm left confused. Shark bite couplings or not directional. At least none that I have installed by that company. Take a look at the example that I will show below.

It's possible that your system was air bound and when you opened the line the pressure in the system pushed not just water (as you described) but also a bolus of bottled up air out of the section of piping where it was causing a blockage.

That aggressive air bleed (by removing and replacing the Sharkbite coupling) got rid of air that was ahead of the point where you removed and repalced the coupling.

Need the part to hold the spliced heating baseboard cover in place

We are looking to find a splice plate and a bracket/hook to hold the spliced baseboard heater cover in place.

We have a very old system (1960's) and can't find replacement parts. Where might the best place be to start our search?

I think our system is the same one that's in the first photo at the top of the page. I can see the hooks that hold the covers on and there is a splice plate as well. If anyone knows where to buy replacement parts for that system it would be welcome advice. (Sept 10, 2015) Jamesd said:

Reply:

James the part you need is sold by heating and plumbing suppliers - it's used in normal baseboard installation to cover the butt joint of two baseboard covers.

Do we have to insulate between baseboard and exterior wall?

What are the requirements for insulation between the base board and exterior wall. I have some suspicion that their is no insulation between the baseboard and cinderblocks on my bottom level. (Oct 5, 2015) Adam

Reply:

Typically the heating system relies on insulation inside the wall cavity.

I agree that if heating baseboards are run along a solid masonry exterior wall then there will be some heat loss into the wall itself; A retrofit adding solid foam and drywall on the wall would improve matters but it is troublesome as the heating baseboards would have to be removed and reinstalled. Ugh.

Tell me how to turn on hot water heateing baseboards

A few years ago I had my plumbing guy "shut off" the basement baseboard heaters. I did not watch how it was done, and now I want to turn them on but don't know how to do that. How is that done? On 2016-04-13 by Dianne:

Reply

I don't know, Dianne as there could be more than one method of shutting off a heating zone.

There may be a separate thermostat for the basement zone: the plumber could have just disconnected the thermostat wires

There may be a zone valve that was disconnected from power and left closed

There may be individual shutoff valves on the zone piping, particularly if it was a parallel loop.

I'd start by looking for a thermostat for the basement zone.

See ZONE VALVES, HEATING - home

Baseboard Hot Water Heating System Leaks

What caused leaks at baseboards after we ran out of oil?

I have a house with the baseboard hot water heat from an oil boiler furnance. The house run out of oil and the house had no heat. Leaks started throughout the baseboards for the circulating hot water heat.

Each time the repairs are made the there are more leaks each time the boiler is fired up. What can we do to solve the problem? (Mar 21, 2015) Jerry Gray

Reply: why we may see water from a leaky heating system only when it's off or cold

Jerry

We need to start by finding out what is causing the leaks - an accurate diagnosis: if the problem is due to freezing pipes then one they're repaired you may want to use an antifreeze in the heating system.

If the leaks are due to corroded piping then all of that will need replacement.

If the leaks are due to poor workmanship the solution to that is apparent in the saying.

Keep in mind that heating baseboard copper pipes are thin-wall; if your heating system water is corrosive that could be the problem.

It's also the case that we sometimes see leaks on hot water heating systems when the system cools because

At a lower temperature metal materials shrink very slightly or move slightly, widening a leak opening

or

At lower temperatures the leaking water from the heating system shows up as water or a wet area whereas when the system is hot, water from a small leak simply evaporates, perhaps leaving behind a stain or mineral effloresence.

As I show in my photo below, we may also see leaks in baseboard heating lines or at fittings following freeze damage. In the photo below, frozen pipes pushed apart the copper tubing at the elbow, permitting leaks to show up when heat was restored to the building.

See details at COMMON BASEBOARD LEAK LOCATIONS

Hot Water Baseboard Odors, Sooting, Stains

Dusty smells from baseboard heat

I moved into a home that has baseboard gas heat. The heating system is about 1.50 old. There is a very bad dusty smell and the home is very dry and stuffy.

I cleaned all the baseboard heating vents but that did not help. The filter inside is new. I have been deathly sick because of this. Can anyone give me any idea what can cause this and how I can fix the problem? On 2016-04-16 by Karen:

Reply

Karen,

Hot water baseboard heating whose water is heated by a gas boiler does not itself make your house dry, dusty, nor smelly.

The odor is more likely coming from other components in the home.

Some dusty smell when heating baseboard first heats up is common and may not be a concern, but

Watch out: Start by asking your heating company to confirm that the gas heater is operating properly and safely so that you can rule out a fatal carbon monoxide hazard; also be sure you have working CO detectors properly placed.

Then you can move on to tracking down the odor source(s) - search InspectApedia.com for ODOR DIAGNOSIS for details.

I made a horrible smell while bleeding the heating baseboard ines

I have a horrible smell coming from a baseboard. The smell is strongest after bleeding the lines. Any idea what can be causing it? (Dec 18, 2014) Kim Bogert said:

Reply:

Kim during bleeding of air in a hydronic heating system, air bled from a hot water heating system can be stinky but the odor should quickly dissipate and not return. That's normal.

Burning smell at heating baseboards & opening baseboards to increase heat output

I keep smelling a burning smell in my baseboards..I have vaccum them , what is making that burning smell throughout my home, and who should i call? (Mar 12, 2015) Doreen Corn s

Reply:

Doreen

there's nothing combustible on the baseboards themselves: copper, aluminum, steel components make up the unit. Check for a spill or for something that has fallen into the baseboard unit.

Unless the smelly baseboards are actually leaking, the smell is most likely from something that is being heated such as a spill on the baseboards or nearby, or paint or wall paneling or even something in the wall or floor cavity near the baseboards.

Search InspectAPedia for. SMELL PATCH TEST to see a low cost method that might help pinpoint the source.

Smell strong solvent odor & noisy baseboard heat

I actually have 2 questions for you.

I've been living in a garden apartment in a 1950s building in suburban Chicago since September. The building has baseboard heat. When I first turned on the heat in the late fall there didn't seem to be any issues.

In December, new building owners/landlord changed our thermostat and have since been doing a lot of work on the building mechanicals, but not the individual units. Since late January, whenever the heat turns on, I smell a strong solvent-like odor.

It slowly dissipates as the cycle runs, but returns again when the system kicks back on and it is making me sick with headaches and nausea. This is only in 2 (living room and bedroom) of the 4 rooms that have the baseboard heaters (both on the same outside wall of the building).

The other 2 do not produce this odor (kitchen is on a different external wall and bathroom is separate internal wall). The (new) landlord doesn't have any suggestions for me on what might be causing this or how to resolve it. Do you have any thoughts on what this might be?

Question 2: The last 2 days, I have also been noticing a lot of water noise from all of the units and (my bathroom wall is shared with the mechanical room) boiler.

Last night it actually sounding like a swimming party in the boiler and like I have water features installed for the sound (or I live in an aquarium store). My temperature does not seem to be impacted. Do I need to worry about this? Should I call the landlord to report a problem?

Thank you for any direction you can provide! On 2015-02-13 by ChicagoCatt -

by (mod) - solvent odor & noisy baseboard heat diagnosis & repair

First let's discuss baseboard heat noises of which these are the two main sorts:

Normal noise includes thermal expansion when the heating system is first coming on and the baseboards are heating up.

See details at THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS

Air bubbling noises or running water noises, however, tell us that there is air in the hot water piping system: either air bleeders are not working or are missing, or someone worked on the system recently and didn't successfully bleed out un-wanted air from the boiler and piping. The risk is loss of heat.

See details at AIRBOUND HEAT SYSTEM REPAIR by WATER FEED VALVE

About solvent odors at baseboard heaters, there are some different diagnostic steps for you to take

1. First, inspect the baseboard heat system for leaks. Hot water heating system water is often smelly and may also have chemical odors if chemical treatments have been added to the system.
2. Second, if there are no leaks, the the "solvent odor" is probably coming from somewhere else: a nearby chemical spill or chemical applied to surfaces in the building, or possibly from the heating of painted or varnished surfaces.

How do I test for chemicals contaminating the baseboard heaters in my home?

Hello, can you tell me how to inspect or test if there is chemicals on the baseboard heat fins in my home?
Everytime I turn it on, the baseboard heat gives me headaches, pins and needles in my body and body aches.
I appreciate the help! (Mar 27, 2014) Lina

Reply:

Lina you could use a sterile swab kit and services of a forensic testing laboratory, but I recommend

Watch out: first be sure that you have working carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in your home

Then checking with your doctor.

I blew dust off of baseboards, Getting faint burning smell, worried about chemicals

I have the old water radiators which look like base board rads but are do not have fins rather a solid steel plate that heats up with air holes at the top and one opening running the bottom of the entire rad.

This is a bedroom rad that has not been operable for over 10 years

. Last summer the building sent a plumber to fix this. Plumber was able to simply open the valve

. When the heat first started in early fall there as a faint burning smell which went away after 1 day.

When the cold really kicked in and heating was increased that bedroom radiator started to smell very bad.

Like a burning smell. I could not sleep in the bedroom for 1 month one. My living room radiator which is the same type. Released no odor or smell at all. But that one has been operable the last 10 years every season.

I tried methods that some suggested on the web.

To burn the smell out but closing the door and window. To let heat build up to full and then air out once a day. This has had very little effect over the last 5 weeks. Where some have claimed that within 10 days the smell would be gone using this method. So far I am still using this method but the smell is not going away.

I did check for leaks. There are no leaks at all.

Plumber said to try the following :
I tried putting water through.

Using paper towels to catch the water coming down. This had no effect on reducing the burning smell.

I just rented a compressor and blew out not only dust but the tin foil and a black paper which sat behind the tin foil. Some dust came out from the sides of the rad.

When I blew air up into it. The dust came out from around the rad. Almost from behind and around its enclosure.

The tin foil is there to push the heat out. I blew it out because it kept coming out.

The smell now is better but there is still an faint burning smell. I am at a complete loss here because I do not know what else to do. I tried everything that the plumber suggested and the smell is still there although much less after I blew it out and forced out the tin foil and the black paper which was sitting behind the tin foil.

Any tips on what can be done to fix this problem?

This is not a baseboard water rad with fins and enclosure that can be opened and cleaned. My radiator is solid steel on the outside. Cannot be opened up. Has air holes at along the top and one opening spanning the entire bottom. It looks similar to the pic just above with the green wall. Mine is similar to that. One solid piece. Water radiator powered by a boiler running hot water.

I would really appreciate some help or feedback with this. Have tried any step I can think of.

Am at a loss now in terms of what it can be. I don't think it is mold. As that would smell even when the rads are off. It is something in there.

Either dust or the tin foil or the black paper behind it could be breaking down and releasing this smell.

So much of that tin foil and black paper came out. Along with a lot of dust from both left and right sides of the radiator when I blew up and inside from the bottom. Seemed like it came out from around the rad. I tried doing the same thing to other points along the rad no more dust came out.

I blew air through it for about 4-5 hours.

As paper bits and tin foil bits would still emerge. So I did not stop the process until I got all of that out.

The only tin foil left is at the top of the rad where these openings are. It looks like it is there to redirect the heat out. I can try to manually remove these with pliers.

But am not sure that will do anything to help reduce the smell.

I hope someone here can give some insight into this. Am running out of options. Thanks for your time. On 2018-01-18 by Tony

Reply by (mod) -

Tony

It sounds as if you're describing cast iron heating baseboard. That heating system does not, of its own accord, give off smells.

But spills onto any heated surface, or heating of nearby odor emitting materials can give off smells. Simply trying to burn off an odor might work for some spills but for others it makes sense to inspect the run of heating baseboard to see what's being heated up and thus smelling.

Look at the building history. For example, if someone sprayed pesticide along walls and floors near the baseboard that could give off a smell when heated.

by Tony

Hi Dan,

There is no knowledge of pesticide use according to the building management. I did notice however after going through this site extensively that adhesives can give off a smell.

There is carpet in that room. It is the same carpet throughout the entire apartment. Living room radiator gives off no smell of any kind. Only the bedroom rad.

When I was blowing it out with compressed air a lot of the tin foil and black paper backing came off.

Do you know if this will damage the radiator or the wood that was behind the tin foil and black paper?

The foil and black paper seem to be there to deflect heat out of the rad. I have blown out a great portion of the foil and black paper. The smell has decreased quite a bit but is still present.

Do you know if this foil or black paper can degrade over time and give off any kind of odor? I imagine those components would not have been placed in the inside of the cast iron base board rad if they gave off any smell under high heat. But then again this is a very old building and I do not know how many years those materials last before they break down.

Did I damage the rad or reduce the efficacy of it? Now when I look inside it is mostly just wood. Can the heat damage this wood over time and be causing this smell?

As for the carpet. I am suspicious of the carpeting and perhaps the padding underneath. If those are heated that could explain the smell.

Thank you Dan for your time and feedback. This sort of thing is very frustrating because it forces me to sleep in my living room indefinitely. Until this smell either burns off or some solution arises.

Old hot water heating pipes & baseboards smell bad: am I getting lead poisoning?

40 year old slant fin cooper pipe with fins and solder smells bad, soldering breaking off and causing smell. What to do. Lead poisoning? On 2017-12-03 by Cindy

Reply by (mod) -

Cindy

Lead poisoning of building occupants from heating distribution pipes is rather unlikely since it's not carrying water that people drink.

If the heating baseboards smell when the heat is on it may be possible for them to be carefully cleaned by an expert.

Don't try any heavy-duty banging or scrubbing or even smashing with a home vacuum cleaner as you may damage the fins and reduce the heat output.

Of course if the heating pipes are actually leaking than they need to be repaired promptly.

More detailed help is

at HVAC SYSTEM ODORS

Sooty Stains over Heating Baseboards

What is causing smoky discolored walls over baseboard heat

Anyone know what causes a dark smoky discoloration on the wall, all the way across the top and the bottom (it's like that on most, but not all)? On 2016-05-26 by Debbie:

Reply:

Probably it's thermal tracking or ghosting.

See THERMAL TRACKING BRIDGING GHOSTING  those terms to read the cause, cure, and prevention.

Soot is coming out of my heating baseboard

Soot is coming from my oil fired heater hot water baseboard. How do I remedy this problem? (Apr 3, 2016) Jerry

Reply: probably thermal tracking but first a safety check

Jerry,

Your hot water heating baseboards contain water; they won't emit soot.

But dust, including sooty dust, can accumulate on the fins and tubing inside the baseboard. *Careful* vacuuming with the baseboard covers off, using a soft brush, can clean the fins and tubing, but you might want to look further for a soot source in your home.

Start by checking that your oil burner is working properly - ask for service if it's smoky, rumbling, noisy, smelly, or if you have gone more than a year without service.

See our complete explanation

at THERMAL TRACKING BRIDGING GHOSTING