Hot water heat zone question

[66HertzClone]

I have 3 zone baseboard hot water heat in my home, a gas fired boiler. The first zone covers the 3 bedrooms, and the two full baths, second zone covers the rest of the ground floor rooms, the third zone is the solarium in my basement. I have Lux Wi-Fi programable thermostats for each of the zones. This system was oil fired when I bought the house, the boiler was leaking and I wanted to have a standby generator installed so I switched to gas and replaced the boiler. I don't use the solarium much, so I have the thermostat set to keep the temp at a minimum temp and often turned off completely. I was going to do some work down there and turned the temp up to 68 degrees, before going down to the basement I noticed the temperature in the bedroom zone had increased and was over 70 degrees, I use one of the bedrooms as an office and the temp in there was at 72. I checked the app for the stats and the bedroom was set to 68 as normal.

I went to the basement and found the temp was climbing but probably due to the size of the room, the starting temp, the temp had only reached 65 degrees. Seems that when the basement heat is running the heated water is also flowing through the bedroom circuit. I don't know much at all about how these systems work, but I assume the the zones would be separate so there shouldn't be an overlap. Is this normal or was something done wrong when the new boiler was installed causing this to happen?

 

[TurnipTruck]

Can you post pics of the near-boiler piping?
My first thought is missing or bad check valves either in or near the pumps, or a sticking zone valve.
Have you noticed this problem before? How long since the boiler replacement?

 

[66HertzClone]

I will go down and get some pictures for you. I really haven't used the heat in the basement since the installation a few years back, I live alone and have a disability so going to the basement isn't something I do often at all. There is manifold area that was some sort of controller for water flow, it isn't close to the boiler but I would guess that's what you want to see.

 

[66HertzClone]

 

[66HertzClone]

There are a few, let me know if you need others

 

[TurnipTruck]

I am assuming the 007e pump heats the indirect water heater, so the three 007-F5 pumps are your house zones. Those pumps did not come from the factory with check valves. If they did they would have FC in the model number. So, unless the black ******* under each pump are disguised check valves OR someone inserted checks into the pumps after purchase, you don’t have a way to stop ghost flow or back flow in one zone when other zones are pumping.



-I am not a professional-

 

[66HertzClone]

Thanks, that was informative, the length of the zone for the basement is very short so I guess that’s why I notice it. I will use my infrared thermometer and see if this happens across all of the zones. I’ll talk with the installer and see what he can do for me. Thanks

 

[fitter30]

Agree with post 6 check valves are needed. Since we don't the t stat model this manual just looked at this manual. Setting is just for boiler there isn't anything for cycle rate or any other adjustments.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.luxproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CS1-Instruction-Manual-English_REV7.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjx4_rE8s2LAxU7AHkGHaZSFksQFnoECAwQAg&usg=AOvVaw19vqcY35G3VfWCL5jsEYP9

 

[PoorUB]

I can't explain why, but every so often on hydronic heat we have had one zone call for heat, and when that pump ran, it created flow in another zone. We often just added a zone valve and wired it to the pump, so when the pump got power the valve opened.

Often we would go with one larger modulating pump for all zones and zone valves.

 

[66HertzClone]

Agree with post 6 check valves are needed. Since we don't the t stat model this manual just looked at this manual. Setting is just for boiler there isn't anything for cycle rate or any other adjustments.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.luxproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CS1-Instruction-Manual-English_REV7.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjx4_rE8s2LAxU7AHkGHaZSFksQFnoECAwQAg&usg=AOvVaw19vqcY35G3VfWCL5jsEYP9

This is the thermostat that I have, four actually, one for each of the three heat zones and one for the A/C which was added to the house later.

https://www.amazon.com/Lux-Products-Programmable-Thermostat-Geofencing/dp/B010PTKWW6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[fitter30]

Don't use swing checks on vertical pipe just horizontal.

 

[TurnipTruck]

These are far quieter than swing checks, and insert right in the pump housing:

 

[66HertzClone]

These are far quieter than swing checks, and insert right in the pump housing:

Are you saying that I could have those check valves retrofitted to the system as it exists now?

 

[TurnipTruck]

Are you saying that I could have those check valves retrofitted to the system as it exists now?

yes, they can be inserted in your existing pump bodies.
not sure about the 007e pump, might be a different part number, never looked into that one.

 

[Just_Steve]

I have 4 zones for heat, when I remodeled kitchen I had someone install a toe kick heater, it's installed incorrectly such that any zone call for heat triggers the heater. I haven't fixed it only because the kitchen needs the extra heat.

 

[66HertzClone]

yes, they can be inserted in your existing pump bodies.
not sure about the 007e pump, might be a different part number, never looked into that one.

Excellent news thanks so much