We just moved into a house (built in 1958) with a gas boiler, hot water baseboard, with domestic hot water supplied through the boiler as well. We have three zones of heating. 2 anomalies we've noticed:
1) During shower use the domestic hot water starts out lukewarm, gets almost cold, and after about 10 minutes gets comfortably warm but never hot enough to warrant mixing cold water in. I assume I can set the water temp higher, but I wonder what would be causing the fluctuations.2) The baseboards make some weird sounds. I've searched the newsgroups and haven't seen the sound I'm hearing described; the best I can do is it starts out as a fairly quiet buzzing sound, almost like the sound of locusts in the summer, and gradually rises in volume over a span of about 10 seconds. The other night it got so loud in my living room it temorarily drowned out the TV! As far as we can tell this happens in every room of the house but at different times.
My guess is maybe it's air in the lines, but it's not a "water rushing" or clanking sound, more of a reedy buzzing sound.
Any ideas? I'll likely have a pro in to do any repairs but I'd like to know what we're getting into ahead of time, to keep expenses down and maybe to help direct the person in the right direction.
Thanks!
Steve