How to bleed a hot water system
Can someone walk me trough the steps of bleeding a hot water system, my house is 8 years old and I am getting uneven heating of bedrooms upstairs, the first two bedrooms are hot and the third,where the thermostat is located, is cool and I think this might be the problem.
Replies
1) Turn on your heat
2) Go to the uppermost level and open the bleed valve
3) Realize the valve is shot and is now permanantly leaking
4) swear.
5) Rush downstairs to shut down the system
6) run back upstairs with an armload of towels
7) drain the system
8) Go to the big-box store and buy replacement valves
9) Get home and realize they won't fit
10) Sit through sunday cold.
11) Monday take work off to go to the plumbing supply house
12) Get the right valves
13) Replace them
14) refill system
15) Daily, go to the valves and bleed them and add more water over time.
I think you can skip steps 1-14 if you plan ahead. I didn't.
LMAO!!!
Somebody owes me a new keyboard!
ROAR!!!!
That was great. LOL
Wee Doggy........
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Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. -Truman Capote
Do you hear air circulating through the system?
If not - might/probably(?) not be an air issu
What sort of radiators do you have?
If baseboard, are the "flaps" along the top (which modify the amount of air flow through the radiator) open in the two rooms and closed in the third?
Is the thermostat anticipator properly set? http://homerepair.about.com/od/heatingcoolingrepair/ss/adj_anticipator.htm
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hmmm - photo didn't attach,....
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"Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive... then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
Howard Thurman
Edited 11/8/2008 11:21 am ET by rjw
Flaps are already closed.
If you want heat, then you'd want them open.
hopefully there is an air bleed near the high point of the system. Much like vapor lock in a car ... air gets in the system preventing proper flow of the [other] fluids that you want to flow.
Another way to flush out air from the loop, which also avoids making a mess upstairs:Attach a short piece of hose (old washer hose works) to the drain valve on the loop return at the boiler (assuming the plumber put this in), and let it hang into a 5-gallon bucket. Turn off the valve downstream of the drain valve with the hose on it. Open the drain valve, and open the bypass around the pressure regulating valve. This will let the outside water supply come barreling through the loop and into the bucket.The circulator motor doesn't provide much head to overcome a big air pocket. Also, if the uppermost baseboard heat run isn't level, and the vent isn't at the high point, you may not get the air pocket to vent out that tiny fitting. Outside water pressure won't have either of these problems. The flow is large, and any air pockets will be pushed out of the pipe loop. You can see it bubble into the bucket of water. After another gallon or so, the bubbling stops, and you can stop the flushing.
I'm pretty sure we're missing that valve on our system. Next spring I need to get someone out here to add it.
I assume you are talking about the boiler drain valve on the return loop, near the boiler, and/or the loop shutoff valve, both upstream of the circulator motor that pushes the water through the boiler and out to the loop again. Or are you talking about the high-point vent valve buried so far into the baseboard housing corner you slice your fingers open trying to get an offset screwdriver onto the valve? If you are talking about the drain or shutoff, you could easily add that yourself. It isn't too difficult to drain the system, cut the pipe, and sweat in the valve. Cheaper than a plumber. I ought to know; my son is one.
Yeah, the down side is you are putting back into the system what you are trying to get out ... the air accumulated that was originally in the water you put in it to begin with. Fresh water has a tendency to have a lot of air in it that tends to collect somewhere in the system (i.e. the top). Wish I would have put a vent at a high point in my system ... mine are at my manifolds which are below the floor line they feed.
I think that ideally, the goal is to not add water to the system and regularly bleed off the air gradually eliminating it 'completely'.