I am building an addition off kitchen/family room. I have zoned hot water baseboard (slantfin ), heat from an oil furnace, one zone up and one down. My domestic hot water is also served by the furnace. I need to drain the 1st floor zone so I can remove and reinstall some of the baseboard. I have what looks like valves to isolate each zone from the system and a drain valve. Is it just a matter of closing off those valves and opening the drain valve ? I want to continue use of hot water and heat for upstairs if my work continues into the heating season. Also, how is the system re-filled ? Is this job more complicated than it looks ? Thanks.
Robert
Replies
Short answer, yes it "sounds" like you have isolation valves for each zone. But, to someone like yerself who is not familiar with plumbing of hydronic baseboards those may not be what you think they may be.
Closing teh isolation valves and oipening that drain valve will not always get all the water out. Depends on teh up/down/up/down plumbing of that zones pipes.
It really is NOT difficult once you have some knowledge.
There "should" be a feed valve to refill the system. Might even have an automatic feeder that will stop refilling when the proper pressure is reached.
At the risk of leading you down a path to destruction.... post some pictures of the piping.
Better yet, go over to http://www.heatinghelp.com and look around for basic piping info.
A system is divided into zones so that they can be controlled separately. In addition to the issues you brought up, you need to determine how the controls are set up. You should disable the controls for the zone you want to isolate such that it will not "call for heat" when you have it shut down. IF the system was installed by a competent individual, you should be able to isolate parts of it and keep the remainder in service.
As someone else mentioned, you may want to seek the help of someone experienced in these things. I would recommend this option.