Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - More hot water heat help - long

I've been reading some of the subjects on hot water heat problems, but didn't see anything that would relate directly to mine so here goes. I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

Here's the particulars: Ithaca boiler - 150,000 BTU (AGB150) circa 1973. We've adjusted the pressure to be in the 20-25 psi range, and boiler temps are usually 160-180.
I have a split level, 4 levels, roughly 3000 sq. ft. 3 bedrooms/2 baths top level - kit/living/dining, level 3 - family/shop at ground level - and basement under the kit/living/dining. I have 4 zone valves, but only 3 zone controls. One zone valve is for a heated garage, but no control for it (all the lines have shut off valves, so I just throttle back the valve to control warmth). No zone control for the basement, it doesn't need it as it gets plenty warm down there!

I've been in this house 8 years now. The first 3-4 years there seemed to be no problems, but I was unfamiliar with hot water heating systems. We had some issues several years ago, the worst being that it was setting off a monoxide detector. All the burners in the boiler were toast, so those were replaced and the system was bled. In the process of learning how this works, the service technician said that the valve for the water supply should not be on. Ever since, in the winter months the bedrooms (which are on the highest level) get cold in a couple of weeks. adding water gets them warm again, but this introduces air into the system, so you have to bleed it every couple of times that water is added. Now that I'm getting kind of tired of that routine, I decided a couple of days ago to leave the water supply line on again, as thats how it was when we purchased the house (there is regulator after the valve for the supply). Wow, warm bedrooms again. I have since had a different technician out to the house (different service co.) and he also told me that the water supply line should be off, even with the regulator.

The question I have is, is the supply supposed to be off or on? If its off, water needs to be added, which makes me wonder if there is a leak somewhere, although I can't detect one visually.

I can take some pics of the boiler and how this thing is setup if that will help. What do you experts say?

Help! And thanks.

Mark

When a boiler is installed in a home there is an auto fill put on it . The psi is set so water will come out of the top bleeder. After that it its job to keep the boiler full at that psi. the water valve to this should be on all the time.

If you have to bleed it a lot you could have a leak but you should see it.
Id ask why you had to bleed the boiler when they put new burners in??????

There are time after you put water in that you do have to come back and bleed it again but after one or two time that should be all.

Good info you gave ;) ED

Thanks a bunch for the reply Ed. I'll leave the water fill on. I have only needed to bleed due to the fact that when I added water moe than 2 or 3 times, it seemed to introduce air, and I would get an air lock almost always in the bedroom level zone. I probably didn't bleed it as often as it sounds, I was just getting a bit concerned.

We had it bled as part of the maintenance when the burners were replaced. We had an issue of the pressure valve blowing off now and then, as well as the bleeders on the tops of the pipes leaking some every once in a while, so we were just trying to get everything in sync. No other reason really.

I'll leep tabs on it over the next few weeks, hopefully problems solved for now.

Is there any updating that should be done for a system such as this? I thought I read in another post about the zone valves being obsolete or something.

Mark

Pop off valve----You should have an expansion tank on the boiler. if it is the bladder kind it could be shot. The bladder is gone and you could need a new one.it would have a small tire valve on it you should get only air out of it not water. Dont let a lot of air out of it to see just a little bit. Or you can have a bigger tank.If this is piped right you shut the water off to it and drain it then turn the water back on it from the boiler. Check this out for sure .;) ED

Ed,
I forgot about the expansion tank. Yes, it has already been replaced, I don't know, maybe 5 years ago. It didn't need to be, it was done for a "Ask Handyman" bit in Family Handyman.

It is the bladder type. How long do they typically last?

Mark

Cant say how long they hold up. Did you check it out and see if its still good and works.???????;) ED

Ed,

Nope didn't try it yet - too busy shovelling snow! I'll check it out tonite.

Mark

If the bladder x tank is installed right it should almost last forever. I've only replaced about 2-3 over the last 30 yrs
3 points to bear in mind.
1) Make sure it has a heat loop on the connection to the system to prevent the hot water ever getting anywere near the tank. As heat will stuff them up, NO VALVES.

2) Make sure you use a good quality tank.

3) Make sure the tank is larger than all the calculations say, Better to be bigger than smaller so the tank doesn't have work so hard.

Can not understand why you guys have so much trouble with x tanks over there?

Just a guess here but if you had the overpressure valve popping AND two techs told you to keep the supply off it is possible that they suspected that the supply regulator was introducing too much water and were not to be bothered to change it. I always leave mine on.

It's not a bad idea to leave the water on However
1) If you develop leak you are less likely to know about it, Changing ie renewing the water in your system brings in fresh water which means air which means corrosion in the long term.
2) In some places you must have a 'Back flow prevention Valve' fitted before you are not allowed to have unsupervised water going into your system.