Thanks to all who posted. I especially appreciate the tone of the responses. The innards of electricity and plumbing are things I know only the most basic things about, but I respect them like I respect the ocean, and I respect people who have deep understanding of them. And the ones who don't make me feel like an idiot are even better!
So I didn't do anything until the pro came today. He walked me through the bleeding process, which was good, because it was more than I had gleaned from the net. For example, he changed the pressure to
30 lbs before he started, which is something I wouldn't have known to do, and I would have waited a long time with nothing happening without it. Speedy Jim, you did say to "See that the pressure gauge is showing enough "height" in feet to reach the highest rad", but, well, I'm not too embarassed to say I stood there for a while ready to bleed it Sunday and I said "You know, I'm not really sure what that means!" : ) And then the air didn't show for a little while, and I wouldn't have been smart enough to know what to be expecting, even if I was doing the procedure properly.
And that put us in business, I'm happy to say. He thought the relays were making a bit too much noise, and pointed out another thing or two that may hinder the boiler kicking in, but since that hasn't been a problem at all we're letting that go for now.
The owner of the building aren't bad folks, but they live hours away and are the epitome of "hands off. They're a family not really in real estate that ended up with these apts, don't employ a building manager (it's just a 4 unit building and I know of only one other they have) and after years of us calling to tell them something needed fixing, and them telling us to just get it fixed, within reason, and take it off the rent, now we just do these things as they come up. Which is how we end up making some decisions. If we called them to take care of it it wouldn't get done : ) But this routine is the way they choose to do it, and I don't really mind.
Thanks again for taking the time in this!
RB