Who knows anything about 2-zone heating?

[TBayXXXVII 2,117]

Well, that's what was asked to me.  Is that the same as "Zone" heating?  Anyway, my sister-in-law asked me if I knew anything about it (which was dumb on her part LOL).  She said, "We have 2-zone heating, but only have 1 heater.  The heat is fine upstairs, but nothing downstairs."  My thinking is that at that point, it was an electrical issue, but that was just a guess.  Does anyone have an informed answered, not just a lucky guess.

 

ETA:  Just a guess... 32B

[Reality 2,710]

We have the same setup and had the same issue, there was a wiring issue that stopped the motor that adjusts the damper. I would tell them to start there. She could probably see an error on the control panel. In our case zone 2 was red.

[Utilit99 4,099]

6 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

Well, that's what was asked to me.  Is that the same as "Zone" heating?  Anyway, my sister-in-law asked me if I knew anything about it (which was dumb on her part LOL).  She said, "We have 2-zone heating, but only have 1 heater.  The heat is fine upstairs, but nothing downstairs."  My thinking is that at that point, it was an electrical issue, but that was just a guess.  Does anyone have an informed answered, not just a lucky guess.

Possibly a plunger can fix it?

[TBayXXXVII 2,117]

Thanks.  I'll pass that along.

[drobeski 3,061]

If a forced hot water system most likely a bad thermostat or bad tstat battery.

Have her turn it up. At the furnace there might be a newer taco control board. If tstat is ok a green light with a zone # sticker on it will come on. It should go off if she turns thermostat off. 

If it looks like tstat isn't working

Have her take it off the wall and put the white and red wire together...the stripped copper part. 

If it starts running the tstat may be bad... but with newer battery operated thermostats some times a low battery is the cause. Theres enough juice to light the display but not enough to pull in the relay. 

So batteries first if digital tstat, then jump wires. If neither of those work then she may have a bad zone valve or circulating pump. She will most likely have one or the other not both. 

If it's a zone valve they usually have a mechanical bypass lever. She can slide that open until someone can service but will continually heat room until she closes it. 

Last possiblity but rare is the control board. The relay could be failing there. 

Similar situation with forced hot air other than they use dampers and fans instead of valves or pumps. 

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

Probably a fetzer valve.

[TBayXXXVII 2,117]

Thanks for the info guys.

[Mookz 1,287]

I'm more into man-to-man heating.  

[Strike 3,979]

On 5/11/2020 at 4:01 PM, Patriotsfatboy1 said:

Probably a fetzer valve.

It's all ball bearings nowadays.

[drobeski 3,061]

I won this thread 

[RLLD 3,455]

Not sure, I have a unit for each floor, is that what you mean.

[TBayXXXVII 2,117]

1 minute ago, RLLD said:

Not sure, I have a unit for each floor, is that what you mean.

No, there's only 1 unit for the whole house but multiple thermostats for each part.

[Reality 2,710]

38 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

No, there's only 1 unit for the whole house but multiple thermostats for each part.

Sounds exactly like my setup, damper issue in my case or what drob posted if the system has pumps.

[TBayXXXVII 2,117]

1 minute ago, Reality said:

Sounds exactly like my setup, damper issue in my case or what drob posted if the system has pumps.

Yeah, I thought so as well.  That's the info I passed on to my sister-in-law.

[RLLD 3,455]

47 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

No, there's only 1 unit for the whole house but multiple thermostats for each part.

Oh....I think they use baffles to pull that off.....the thermostats in each area control an electronis baffle in the HVAC system to increase or decrease the flow of air.  It does a decent job for zone control, but a bad job for economy...