factman
11-26-04, 11:29 AM
Hi ,
My house is about 12 years old. The builder did not install bleeders on the base board heaters so I have to bleed from the basement.For the first time I can recall, I recently heard a lot of gurgling and realized that there was air in the lines.
I believe I have a standard set up - starting at the return end of the loop, just at the furnace there is a T with one pipe which feeds water to the circulator, with the other leg of the T having a hose drain followed by a shut off valve leading to the pressure reduction valve which isolates the heating from the cold water supply.
Beyond the circulator the pipe has a T , each leg goes to one of the 2 zones. Each zone pipe has a shut off valve followed by a drain valve The pipe for each zone goes to the radiators and returns through a zone valve followed by a shutoff valve to another where the two zone pipw come together . One leg of the T leads back to the ciruculator.
I flushed the system using the following method:
1) I shut off the electricity to the furnace and the circulator.
2) I closed the shut off valves on each of the two zones from the main pipe which feeds water to the circulator.
3) I attached a hose to the drain valve of one of the zone pipes and ran it into a large bucket and opened the drain valve.
4) I moved over to the zone valve for that loop and held it open and heard the water rushing. I watched the water run into a large tub hopefully hopefully until the air stopped bubbling out of it. That didn't happen.
There was a lot of air in the water and it was prettty black and ugly looking.
5) When I got tired of running the water and emptying the tub with a bucket,
I returned all the valves to the normal positions and ran the furnace.
The gurgling was gone.
The first time I tried, I didn't know enough to hold the zone valves open, thinking that the turning up the thermostat would do the job for me. No water ran so I finally got the clue to hold the zone valves open.
I wish the builder had put in bleeders, but it will be easier to do this next time.
My house is about 12 years old. The builder did not install bleeders on the base board heaters so I have to bleed from the basement.For the first time I can recall, I recently heard a lot of gurgling and realized that there was air in the lines.
I believe I have a standard set up - starting at the return end of the loop, just at the furnace there is a T with one pipe which feeds water to the circulator, with the other leg of the T having a hose drain followed by a shut off valve leading to the pressure reduction valve which isolates the heating from the cold water supply.
Beyond the circulator the pipe has a T , each leg goes to one of the 2 zones. Each zone pipe has a shut off valve followed by a drain valve The pipe for each zone goes to the radiators and returns through a zone valve followed by a shutoff valve to another where the two zone pipw come together . One leg of the T leads back to the ciruculator.
I flushed the system using the following method:
1) I shut off the electricity to the furnace and the circulator.
2) I closed the shut off valves on each of the two zones from the main pipe which feeds water to the circulator.
3) I attached a hose to the drain valve of one of the zone pipes and ran it into a large bucket and opened the drain valve.
4) I moved over to the zone valve for that loop and held it open and heard the water rushing. I watched the water run into a large tub hopefully hopefully until the air stopped bubbling out of it. That didn't happen.
There was a lot of air in the water and it was prettty black and ugly looking.
5) When I got tired of running the water and emptying the tub with a bucket,
I returned all the valves to the normal positions and ran the furnace.
The gurgling was gone.
The first time I tried, I didn't know enough to hold the zone valves open, thinking that the turning up the thermostat would do the job for me. No water ran so I finally got the clue to hold the zone valves open.
I wish the builder had put in bleeders, but it will be easier to do this next time.