So about a week or so ago we had a pipe burst in the first floor hallway which is the only place it heats on the first floor on its way from the basement to the second floor, since then there is no heat in that hallway or upstairs. Bare with me while I explain what I've done and why I'm so baffled.

The pipes coming out of the boiler are hot of course and stay that way until it goes through the floor to the first floor then it gets cold. I have bleed all the valves on the second floor and all that happened is I would run out of water until I replaced the cap for a few minutes. At this point I had been reading online and found I probably had an airlock system. I followed all the instructions for that and got tons of air and bubbles out of the system but still no heat. So once again I went one by one and bled the valves upstairs, this time I was able to bleed them until I got hot water. But as soon as I stop bleeding them the water goes cold again and doesn't reheat.

What's going on?!

I know I should hire a plumber but I just bought the house and cannot afford it. I also just found out (when I had to replace the thermostat a few weeks ago) that even though I have a thermostat upstairs, it's not connected to anything and the whole home is on one zone. The pipe comes from the boiler and splits into two, one for the first floor and one for the second, the first floor is always toasty and works fine. The 2nd floor doesn't. What is so confusing is the split to the two floors is only about 8 feet before the line to the second floor starts getting cold which is also where the original burst pipe was. I considered that there might be an air leak in the fixed portion of the pipe, but the pipes all the way up to the second floor fill with water SO I would see if water was leaking.

Please help!!!!

Your system is either a split sytem in which the heat supply leaves the boiler in one pipe, splits into two zones and then reconverges to one pipe on its way back to the boiler. If that is the case, a properly installed system would have mechanical means to purge both zones individually. This system only needs one thermostat.

Another method would be to divide the system in two at the boiler and control it with two thermostats, each zone completely separated from the other. You mention a second thermostat (upstairs), but seem to suggest that the entire house is under the control of one thermostat which leaves us confused.

How many circulators (or zone valves) are there in your system?

your automatic fill valve is either clogged, malfunctioning os set too low. you should have 12-15 PSI on the heating system. it may read that but as you open a vent the PSI drops to nothing and the fill valve ie not doing it's job.
if you can post a picture of the 'around the boiler' piping, someone can tell you which valve is the automatic fill and kinda guide you thru troubleshooting it.

from the OP..."I have bleed all the valves on the second floor and all that happened is I would run out of water until I replaced the cap for a few minutes"..
this seems to indicate a PSI problem..

Quote

I know I should hire a plumber but I just bought the house and cannot afford it.

You will NOT like this:

You bought something.

You have no clue how to operate same.

You state you have no funds for a competent repair person.

You need to sell out NOW before you lose your TOTAL investment.

OR

Find the funds to hire a 'pro' BEFORE you make matters even worse.

The good news: Spring is coming.

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