Bleed air out of system


  #1  
Old 12-23-17, 10:04 AM
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Bleed air out of system

Hi, I have a furnace/boiler with baseboard heat in my 3 floor house. The baseboards don’t have bleed valves on them. I mainly heat the house with my wood stove so when I turned the heat on today I heard burbling and only the basement floor has heat. I had a guy out here a couple years back and he bled the system and then it worked fine. I’m leaving on a trip tomorrow and want to keep the house warm because we’re going to have some cold nights while I’m gone.

I’ve watched a dozen YouTube videos on how to do this but my system appears to be plumbed differently. I don’t see the same valves as they show. I’d love someone to tell me which levers to pull so I do it right. I already tried from memory but it didn’t work...

here are pictures of the system. Let me know if you want more or want closeups!

Thanks,
Dave
 
  #2  
Old 12-23-17, 10:08 AM
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Sorry, here are the pictures.

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Last edited by PJmax; 12-23-17 at 12:48 PM. Reason: reoriented pictures
  #3  
Old 12-23-17, 12:10 PM
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D,
Because your unit heats water and not air you have a boiler not furnace which heats air. That is the difference between the two.

First of all your system has no baseboard vents because it is what is called a loop system and baseboard vents are of no use.

To bleed your system you must isolate the individual zones by valving off all zones except the one you are bleeding.

On the zone without insulation you have a shut off valve and a drain valve. I cannot see your supply lines to see if you have isolation valves installed there.

You have a yellow handle valve that is pointing up. The bell shaped valve with the lever on top is your feed valve to the system. By lifting that lever up it manually increases the pressure in your boiler by letting water in.

This valve must be manually opened to raise the pressure to 25psi and maintained while bleeding you system being careful not to exceed 30psi so your relief valve doesn't let go. If it feeds faster than it drains you can periodically close the lever so as not to exceed 30psi. When it gets back to 25 lift the lever again so as not to lose bleeding pressure.

There is a reason for this but this is long enough without getting into it here.

Getting back to your return lines. As I said you have 1 shutoff on the uninsulated line. It looks like the other 2 zones have the shutoffs built into the pump flanges. If you look at the flanges you should see a brass screw that accepts a flat head screw driver that is a ball valve built into the flange and by turning 90 deg or 1/4 turn isolates the zone for bleeding or changing the pump.

To Bleed Your System:

1) Shut down the boiler
2) Isolate all zones except the 1 to be bled
3) Attach drain hose to draw off on zone to be bled
4) By lifting lever on feed valve bring pressure to 25psi
5) Open draw off and bleed air from zone. Continue to bleed until a smooth steam of water comes out. Don't be in a rush make sure the whole zone is bled by letting water run for a couple of minutes once it comes out steady, just in case you have a large zone, just to make sure.
6) Once bled, close draw off and feed valve. Isolate that zone and repeat the process on all others if need be.
7) After all bleeding is completed drain off excess water and bring pressure back to 18 psi.
8) Open all isolation valves and turn on boiler to normal operation and test.

Hope this helps a little.
 
  #4  
Old 12-23-17, 01:00 PM
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Hi Spot, thanks for the reply. Much appreciated. I totally see the little flat head valves built in to the left two pump things. I just did exactly as you said and it worked! I've got heat up stairs and down (I bled the other zones too just for good measure). A lot of air came out and was splashing in my bucket and my leg got covered in water...wasn't expecting that, but it's all good. Earlier today I texted a friend who's father worked with boilers and stuff for help, he called me back a few minutes ago and pretty much said exactly what you wrote so that was funny. Now I know how to do this and I really appreciate the help. Merry Christmas and a happy new year
 
  #5  
Old 12-23-17, 01:13 PM
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Dave,
Good to hear your all set. It can jump around a little if you're expecting it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year also!!
 
 

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