What do you mean when you say "get this water to fill in the reverse flow that it actually flows when it's on" aren't you just pushing water through the return line to bleed the lines?
Yep that is the less wordy version of what I meant... Did my wife put you up to this comment...? I frequently hear that I am too wordy from her, lol... ;-)
Nice video.. can u do this with out the 2 zone valves? I have 2 small loops one goes to the 2nd floor and one loop to the first floor but I only have one thermostat..
That is a tricky question for me to answer without knowing more info. I will share that these systems are full of water and the water runs in a loop so if the area that is leaking can be isolated by closing a valve on each side of where the leak is on the return you are a very lucky person and you wont have to shut off the water to the system and drain it. Note, even if you are able to isolate the damaged pipe section you will need a service drain or union within that isolated area to be able to drain it after closing the valves on both sides. My proposed scenario only lives in the fantacy land of boiler repairs... If the section cannot be isolated and drained. Turn the system off, close the valve that allows water to flow through to the boiler, drain the boiler, make your repair to the damaged pipe or what ever is leaking. Then fill the system back up and follow the steps in this video to get the air out.
I invested in an inexpensive thermal imaging camera that attaches to my smartphone to see the difference in temps by color. The images give a more professional look when sent in with the invoice to the customer and keep you from risking burning your hand touching pipes.
First, thank you for your question. Note I put up the channel as a way to share some of the knowledge I have obtained from managing residential rental property, being a home owner and a registered home improvement contractor. I have not considered that questions may come in and I have not build my business to the point where I can dedicate enough time to regularly review and answer questions here so I apologize for answering so late. I am not a plumber so I cannot tell you with certainty. However, some areas have seals that interact with air and seals become worn over time. Air Vents, Expansion tanks, Service drain valves, the rubber seal on either side of the circulator pump. I sometimes notice rust spots around threaded joints and other parts mentioned above, with rubber or teflon seals on boilers. I'm thinking, If water can make it out, air can make it in as well. Hope this helps.
@@propertymanagementandrepai2356So you're not really fixing anything? You would need to replace all of the rubber seals to prevent this from happening again?
Most common cause of air getting into your system is water leaking somewhere, relief valves, pipe joints rust etc just like the person posting this video answered. It happens over long periods of time so usually every few seasons depending on how bad the leak is. Water leaks and it gets replaced with air.
Enjoyed this video> On my system there are four zones each with its own circulator coming off a manifold on the supply side. There are no purge stations on the returns. Can I bleed the zones at the drain at the end of the supply manifold pipe?
I am no plumber but I can share how I would go about checking which one is needed or to determine which zone is for which floor. 1. To check which zone belongs to which floor turn all the thermostats off except for one. This will open the zone valve on the pipe that corresponds to that floor/zone. As for which zone needs to be purged of air, usually the zone return pipe will have a colder temp than a zone that is circulating water normally. BE CAREFULL and use a digital temp reader or thermal image camera. If you don't have that be sure to touch the return pipe far enough from the boiler that the pipe isn't hot just from being closing enough to the boiler. In my experience 6ft away from the boiler (measuring backwards from the circulator pump) or 3 feet before the zone valve. (For me the return pipe for each zone would be the tell. The temp difference on the pipe of a zone which has an air pocket preventing the water from circulating back to the circulator pump and the temp of the pipe on a zone which the water is circulating properly will have a significant difference). Cold pipe means no circulation.
That was very helpful thank you very much! Unfortunately our boiler has 5 zones to it and I'm including the hot water tank. I say "ünfortunately" because none of the entrances to the zones have ball shut off valves except to the hot water tank. Do you think the switches on the thermostat callers for the zones are sufficient, not sure if that is the right name for the mechanism, but I think that they are the same thing that the system in your video had in the silver boxes, except mine aren't in silver boxes; nevertheless do you think when purging one zone, that will induce air into one or more of the other zones because the entrances 'do not having ball valves?' And Do digital hydrostat controls need to be reprogrammed every time the power is turned off? And if they do would that mean the thing hasn't been working as it should ever since our power went off months ago?
My question is how do I make it so I stop getting so much heat. I have a maintenance man that my landlord doesn’t know intentionally and maliciously attacks several of the tenants recently causing several people in my apartment to move out for several reasons. Recently his new tactic is to crank out heat up to unbearable levels where we report it and it changes for next to no time at all and it’s back up to levels no one else in my building experiences
hi, I have a similar issue but mine is a 4 zone heating system where one zone isn't heating up. If I'm not comfortable doing this by myself, which field should I call? Is it plumbing or is it heating? If it's plumbing, are there different kinds of plumbing that deals directly with the furnace/boiler? Thank you very much.
Standard pressure is 12 psi. Add 3 psi per floor so if the boiler is in basement, 12 to 18 psi is ok when cold. When hot, it will increase to about 21 and the expansion tank, set to the system pressure of 12-18 will absorb the hot water expansion. The pressure relief valve is set to release water at 30 psi.
Thank you, viewers will appreciate that idea. I take for granted how many times I have gone through this process. For me, I can tell when the air is all out by the lack of fluctuation in the water flow once all the air is out.
Perfect. Thanks! All questions were answered. Liked and subscribed
What do you mean when you say "get this water to fill in the reverse flow that it actually flows when it's on" aren't you just pushing water through the return line to bleed the lines?
Yep that is the less wordy version of what I meant... Did my wife put you up to this comment...? I frequently hear that I am too wordy from her, lol... ;-)
well explained, thank you!
You're welcome, glad it was helpful!
Is adding cold water to a hot boiler dangerous for the coil?
Good man, thanks for posting.
Nice video.. can u do this with out the 2 zone valves? I have 2 small loops one goes to the 2nd floor and one loop to the first floor but I only have one thermostat..
The trick is to isolate each loop. You need to have a service shut off and drain on each loop then it should be similar.
If boarders don't have valves to bleed out should I find it by boiler
Don't forget to flip pressure regulator back before closing valves....... Figured that out
Question if i a leak in the return pipe how do i empty the system in order to fix leak
That is a tricky question for me to answer without knowing more info. I will share that these systems are full of water and the water runs in a loop so if the area that is leaking can be isolated by closing a valve on each side of where the leak is on the return you are a very lucky person and you wont have to shut off the water to the system and drain it. Note, even if you are able to isolate the damaged pipe section you will need a service drain or union within that isolated area to be able to drain it after closing the valves on both sides.
My proposed scenario only lives in the fantacy land of boiler repairs... If the section cannot be isolated and drained. Turn the system off, close the valve that allows water to flow through to the boiler, drain the boiler, make your repair to the damaged pipe or what ever is leaking. Then fill the system back up and follow the steps in this video to get the air out.
Thermal imaging? What about like your hand though?
I invested in an inexpensive thermal imaging camera that attaches to my smartphone to see the difference in temps by color. The images give a more professional look when sent in with the invoice to the customer and keep you from risking burning your hand touching pipes.
If the system is sealed, how does air get into the system.
First, thank you for your question. Note I put up the channel as a way to share some of the knowledge I have obtained from managing residential rental property, being a home owner and a registered home improvement contractor. I have not considered that questions may come in and I have not build my business to the point where I can dedicate enough time to regularly review and answer questions here so I apologize for answering so late. I am not a plumber so I cannot tell you with certainty. However, some areas have seals that interact with air and seals become worn over time. Air Vents, Expansion tanks, Service drain valves, the rubber seal on either side of the circulator pump. I sometimes notice rust spots around threaded joints and other parts mentioned above, with rubber or teflon seals on boilers. I'm thinking, If water can make it out, air can make it in as well. Hope this helps.
@@propertymanagementandrepai2356So you're not really fixing anything? You would need to replace all of the rubber seals to prevent this from happening again?
Most common cause of air getting into your system is water leaking somewhere, relief valves, pipe joints rust etc just like the person posting this video answered. It happens over long periods of time so usually every few seasons depending on how bad the leak is. Water leaks and it gets replaced with air.
Enjoyed this video> On my system there are four zones each with its own circulator coming off a manifold on the supply side. There are no purge stations on the returns. Can I bleed the zones at the drain at the end of the supply manifold pipe?
I have four zones how do I know which pipe to drain they are not marked for what floors.
I am no plumber but I can share how I would go about checking which one is needed or to determine which zone is for which floor. 1. To check which zone belongs to which floor turn all the thermostats off except for one. This will open the zone valve on the pipe that corresponds to that floor/zone. As for which zone needs to be purged of air, usually the zone return pipe will have a colder temp than a zone that is circulating water normally. BE CAREFULL and use a digital temp reader or thermal image camera. If you don't have that be sure to touch the return pipe far enough from the boiler that the pipe isn't hot just from being closing enough to the boiler. In my experience 6ft away from the boiler (measuring backwards from the circulator pump) or 3 feet before the zone valve. (For me the return pipe for each zone would be the tell. The temp difference on the pipe of a zone which has an air pocket preventing the water from circulating back to the circulator pump and the temp of the pipe on a zone which the water is circulating properly will have a significant difference). Cold pipe means no circulation.
That was very helpful thank you very much! Unfortunately our boiler has 5 zones to it and I'm including the hot water tank. I say "ünfortunately" because none of the entrances to the zones have ball shut off valves except to the hot water tank. Do you think the switches on the thermostat callers for the zones are sufficient, not sure if that is the right name for the mechanism, but I think that they are the same thing that the system in your video had in the silver boxes, except mine aren't in silver boxes; nevertheless do you think when purging one zone, that will induce air into one or more of the other zones because the entrances 'do not having ball valves?' And Do digital hydrostat controls need to be reprogrammed every time the power is turned off? And if they do would that mean the thing hasn't been working as it should ever since our power went off months ago?
My question is how do I make it so I stop getting so much heat. I have a maintenance man that my landlord doesn’t know intentionally and maliciously attacks several of the tenants recently causing several people in my apartment to move out for several reasons. Recently his new tactic is to crank out heat up to unbearable levels where we report it and it changes for next to no time at all and it’s back up to levels no one else in my building experiences
open all the windows
Speaking as a landlord myself I would want to know wtf is going on. Is your landlord a pos like the maintenance guy?
Saved my house
Thank you kindly!
You're welcome!
hi, I have a similar issue but mine is a 4 zone heating system where one zone isn't heating up. If I'm not comfortable doing this by myself, which field should I call? Is it plumbing or is it heating? If it's plumbing, are there different kinds of plumbing that deals directly with the furnace/boiler? Thank you very much.
Any licensed plumber should be able to do it.
What should the water pressure be on the dial? Mine is analogue like yours. Thanks!
Standard pressure is 12 psi. Add 3 psi per floor so if the boiler is in basement, 12 to 18 psi is ok when cold. When hot, it will increase to about 21 and the expansion tank, set to the system pressure of 12-18 will absorb the hot water expansion. The pressure relief valve is set to release water at 30 psi.
Thanks! :)
Please record in landscape.
Good to drain into a bucket to see the ai rbubbles better.
Thank you, viewers will appreciate that idea. I take for granted how many times I have gone through this process. For me, I can tell when the air is all out by the lack of fluctuation in the water flow once all the air is out.