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Houses and two-families
Yonkers, Bronxville, Tuckahoe and the streets between. Older stock, steam and hot water rather than ducts, and cooling that has to be added rather than connected.
No heat
On steam.
Water level and the low-water cutoff first, then the burner and its safeties, then the pressure control. A boiler that cannot see its water will not fire, and that is the device doing its job rather than failing.
On hot water.
Circulators, zone valves and the expansion vessel are where most faults live. A radiator cold at the top with a warm bottom is usually air; cold throughout is usually a valve or a circulator that has stopped.
On forced air.
Filter, ignition sequence, flame sensing, and the limit switch that stops an overheating furnace. A restricted filter causes more January call-outs than anything else on this list.
On any of them.
Where we find a compromised heat exchanger on a combustion appliance it gets shut off rather than repaired. That is not a negotiation, whatever the forecast is doing.
Cooling a house with no ducts
The honest starting point.
If the house heats by steam or by hot water, there is no ductwork to put cooling into. That leaves ductless heads, a small-duct system, or building ducts in — which in a house like this is mostly carpentry.
Ductless, done properly.
Each head sized for its own room rather than all the same, line-set routing agreed before anybody drills, condensate that drains reliably, and the outdoor unit mounted where it will not sit in water.
What we will not do.
Propose a full ductless system for a house where two rooms are the problem. Two heads and an honest conversation is frequently the right answer, and it is the smaller job.
Window units.
Still a legitimate answer for a single room in a building where nothing else is practical, and we will say so rather than pretend they do not exist.
The gauge glass and the pressure control. Two minutes with both explains a great deal.
What an annual steam service should include
- The pressure control checked and set. Ounces, not pounds. This one item causes more waste than anything else in the system and it takes minutes.
- The low-water cutoff tested. Not looked at — tested, and flushed where the design calls for it.
- The boiler skimmed where it needs it. Oil and debris on the water surface cause carryover, and carryover causes hammer everywhere at once.
- Main vents assessed. The item that decides whether the far end of the house heats, and the one most likely never to have been touched.
- Radiator vents checked and sized. Cheap, consumable, and the whole basis of balance.
- Combustion tested with instruments. On gas or oil, with the figures written down rather than described.
- Pitch checked where there is banging. Radiators and accessible runs, with what we find written down.
If you rent, or if you let
Tenants.
An unbalanced steam building is not your fault and it is not fixed by your radiator valve. If you are opening windows in January, the building is overheating and the person who pays the fuel bill has the strongest reason to care. This site exists partly so you can show somebody what to ask for.
Owners and managing agents.
Balancing a one-pipe building is a survey and a set of vents, not a capital project. We will give you a written record per building and the documentation to hand to whoever comes next.