In Floor Heating Issues...

[oldguy00]

Hi all, have a condo with in floor radiant heating. The system doesn't seem to be working properly as the condo won't warm up, floor doesn't feel warm.
The water unit seems to have power.
Of course there are valves all over the place on this, and lots of levers to shut water flow on and off. Also one sort of brass key thing.
I am going to call to have a professional come look at it, but was hoping to learn a bit about it and thought I'd post questions here!

1. There is the air exchanger for the condo a few feet away from the radiant water unit, and there is a drain tube running into air exchanger. When we turned the brass key thing, we heard a rush of water, and all of a sudden there was water pouring out of the air exchanger! Why would they have a drain line going there???
2. So being a genius....I turned off the lever on that drain tube that went to the air exchanger, and turned that brass key on again, again we heard rushing water, and about 10 seconds later we see dirty water coming up through the kitchen drain! So again turned that key thing off again and called it a day.

Does any of this sound familiar? Does it indicate a blockage in the system somewhere???

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[Jeff Handy]

It indicates you should not touch anything else, you have no clue.

Meanwhile, the water line going into the air handler might be for a humidifier, but just a guess.

Talk to your condo maintenance people, they should know all about your heating system.
They might even be responsible for maintaining it.

 

[oldguy00]

Thanks, yes, I realize that. Again, was just posting to see if I could learn anything, maybe to avoid a bigger repair bill than is necessary. We contacted the condo corp this morning and are waiting to hear back.

 

[Jeff Handy]

Turning random valves that you have no idea what they do is not going to save you money.
More likely to cause damage and cost you money.

Plus, you want the valves and everything to be left in the position they were when things were previously working well, once you change things around the repair guy will have lost his reference point.

 

[Jeff Handy]

You could post lots of pics of everything, that is always good for starters.

And of course check breakers and fuses, and switches, timers, thermostat batteries and settings.