For more information or a written out step by step you can stop by www.thediyguy.net/2014/10/how-... . A video on how to remove air from your heating system.
I must thank you my friend, today we came home and it is literally -0° (Boston MA) and after watching your video, I was able to turn our heater on, thank God for this new technology and your RUclips channel, we have 3 babies that were gonna be very cold, but thank you again God Bless you!!!
I have to add my many thanks too. My system was a bit more complicated with six zones, different makes and configuration, but with your clear and thorough explanations I was able to translate to my system and solve my air problem after installing a new circulation pump. Much appreciated!
Thanks again for sharing this great tutorial. I just used it bleed out my mom's heating system. Saved us time and money and now we can do it ourselves going forward. God bless you!
I have looked at about 20 videos and they are so scattered. You made this so simple. Thank you for showing this task in a simple way and not over engineering it. Appreciated!
I did a Google search, your video was the first to show. I can see why, the perfect-to the point DIY. I will watch your entire library, a great teacher you are, thank you!
Thanks DIY Guy! It helps to know what one is doing, doesn't it? Remember DIY, that God loves you and He did it Himself, and not according to our plans or according to our instructions 🙂
Thank you!!! This video help me fixed my heat. I had an appointment for a Plummer to come but I had canceled it after following the steps from this video.
We do try and answer all the comments or questions we get. The idea behind the channel is to help people so if we can do that by answering someones question to help clarify something for them. Thank you for taking the time to watch our video and leave us a comment. Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up. Thanks
Thanks for your video, makes it simple and easy to watch and understand the process. I will definitely go back to watch again when i try to do it next time.
Thanks a lot for the DIY video. It makes a lot of sense. I had my boiling firing on but the water is not circulating. Initially I thought the pump is broken. Then I leaked some water from the pressure valve and also added more water pressure from the refill valve. The pump seems working again now. But I guess I should do it properly to remove move air now after watching your video. Just one question. My returning water not only goes back to boiler for reheating but it also connects directly to the hot water sending side (without reheating). There is a valve between that link however that valve is turned on right now. This is very strange to me. Why the returning water not just go back to boiler? And now I am not sure how I can drain the water to remove air. I guess I must shut off the valve so that the returning water does not go back to hot water side. Thanks!
Thanks for this. I wasn't doing it right. I could not get the air out of my upstairs zone because I closed the downstairs valve but left the upstairs valve open (yellow handles). Some of the air came out the hose but some of it continued past the hose and back around into the zone again. After 30 minutes of failure I gave up and looked online and found your video. The key point you taught me is to close ALL the valves including on the zone you're bleeding, which forces all the water and air out the hose.
@@huilin5841 True but if you do that then you also need to watch your pressure gauge! Must keep it below 30psi or the pressure relief valve will dump water all over the floor.
THANK YOU! I've done a lot of work on this boiler to keep it running and some cold nights. Just replaced the taco pump and the temp gauge, total of $200 and I'm hoping it saved me from a brand new boiler for at least one more year! Just got quoted on a new boiler, $20K!!! There was a ton of water in my system after doing this work and it was so cool to hear the air coming out and then finally running clean and with no air I hope! I'm not sure what happens when there is air in the system.... but I'm glad I did it. Woke up in a warm house.
nice work. I have a 9-zone system + sidearm water heater. 2 loops dead (driveway, long ago, garage froze and ruptured loop more recently, cutoffs and zone-valves hold water). 7 to bleed air from. 2 floors, water dist manifolds on ceiling of boiler room (driven by 2nd pump, on 2nd loop), downstairs loops do a lot of up/down from furnace to manifolds, to loops. Lots of air-trap potential. which floor should I purge 1st ? bottom ?? does banging tend to happen when the loop with air is being heated, and not otherwize ? If so, I could start to check whats hot when I hear banging, and purge that loop 1st. furnace primary loop has 2 drain valves with cutoff between, this looks like the spot. water fill is downstream of the cutoff, I presume drain valve is upstream of cutoff ? should I wait til spring ?
Great video. I had a heating service come by to do this with an annual cleaning but the air bubbles come back in the line within 3-4 months. NE living still need the heat through May.
AYou're welcome. glad we could help. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you haven't already so it makes it easier for other people to find.
Thank you for your video. Your explanation is clear, to the point and without the unnecessary banter that are found in other videos. I followed your instructions and 5 minutes later my pipes are quiet once again. Money saved on plumbers can go towards pizza night.
First, thank you so much for this informative video. I'm a disabled senior widow, on a fixed income. I found this video after I opened the valves that water come out of. That's all I did, but I used a kitchen mop buck, and up and down the stair. It worked and now I have heat. I thought that honeywell thermostat wasn't working. I hate that thing to. I have heat now. Of course this was on the coldest day so far this yr. 20 degrees. Plus a Sunday. That bill would have been at least $350 here in NY. I have a question. How does air get in the pipes in a closed system. I've never had to do this until 2yrs. ago. Again thank you and looking forward to your answer.
Hi, this is a great video. But I have one question. My new Yorker boiler is tankless. Should I still turn the oil switch off in that case? How would the water from the line heat up otherwise?
Question: As I recall when I did this a few years ago, the pressure dropped too much to push a healthy stream of water out the hose and I had to pull the lever up on the Feeder Valve to get the pressure back up. (Yeah, one year I left the room and heard a loud noise as there was TOO much pressure and the overflow pipe blew water over the floor - though I must say the system was really toasty that year). Since then, 2 out of my 3 zones had small little "air bleeders" installed. I think they are supposed to automatically bleed the air out of those zones. Do I periodically open those bleeders to get air out? Also, there is an Isolation Valve to the overhead Expansion Tank. One repair guy bleeds with it open, another guy said you had to close it when bleeding, etc. So, I am stumped on that. TIA
Great video, thank you! I tried it and it worked perfectly. The only thing I did differently is run the hose into a large bucket, so I could see the air bubbles bubble-up through the water - when this stopped for a while I knew any air was purged. Thanks again.
You're welcome, Glad we could help. Thanks for watching and taking time to leave us a comment. Another person said that in a comment as well. Good idea. Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up/ like if you haven't already. Thanks
This is a fantastic video but what happens if you don't have a shut off valve by the drain valve? Is there a check valve in the circulator pump to prevent water from flowing from the boiler?
Thank you so much for this! It's been driving me crazy thinking I'll need a plumber and now that I've done it and seen how easy that was I'd cry if I'd have shelled $150 for that.
You're welcome, Glad we could help save you some money and give you the confidence to take this take on. Thanks for taking the time to leave us a comment and for watching and don't forget to share and thumbs up the video.
A zone valve is just that, A valve that opens when the t-stat calls for heat to allow the hot water to flow though the zone. ( t-stat also turn on the circ pump as it opens the valve) The circ pump is whats used to push the water though the zone. Most older houses had a circulator pump for each zone. Most newer houses have zone valves on each zone and one circ pump. The reason for this is to save energy by having one pump and zone valves and also to save space being that a zone valve is smaller then pumps.
I have a similar setup with the boiler. I have tankless hot water tho. I want to tie a wood stove so I can heat with oil and wood. I believe I have steam heat, cast iron radiators. I want to connect the wood stove chimney to the oil burner with a T so i dont need a separate chimmney setup. having a electronic flap for the oil burner can I even do this? Does it go before or after the flap? I'm sick of being cold and always running out of oil
This was invaluable info in purging the air from the system after I had to open it up to fix a leak in a PEX clamp connection that must have been poorly installed. Clamp just split completely and it ruined the flooring and ceiling below from the slow leak that resulted. Followed the sequence of closing the ball valve, connecting the drain hose to the gate valve, opening the gate valve and letting the air get mostly pushed out. For some reason the second story zone still apparently has some air in it because it can be heard as the circulation is going on but at least it's now delivering heat, where it was completely cold before. Tried the rapid fill to increase the pressure but that resulted in the pressure release popping, so I could only do that very sparingly, to avoid flooding the floor when it released. I may try another purge session after it runs a while under pressure.
I see you didn’t adjust your folk pressure valve at all. Other people have done so but I’m scared of damaging/flooding my system. What are your thoughts?
You're welcome. The piece where you could attach the hose would be called Boiler Drain or Boiler Drain Valve. To be really specific for these in the video 1/2" MPT Boiler Drain, Male Threaded. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment/ question. Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up/ like if you haven't already. Thanks
I don't have any shut off valves for my loops like you do here. I do have Taco zone valves right after the drain valves on my loops so I'm guessing they will act as the as a shut off valve if they're in the closed position?
What if im in an apartment building and have a separate thing of valves in my closet of my apt. , are those to be able to get air out? I've been having rushing/trickling water sound often. It goes through 3 baseboard heaters
Very informative. Question- I need to purge one out of three zones only. For that single zone, do I need to shut all return valves or just the one that I need purged and leave the other 2 in normal open position? Thanks
You could get away with not shutting the other ones. But I find it best to shut all just to be sure that all the water pressure goes though the zone your trying to purge. In case that shutoff valve leaks.
@TheDIYGuyDOTnet In this video, on your system the direction of the flow of boiler water goes from the boiler, to the zone valves, to the "spigot valves", to the "line shut-off valves". (I'm not sure what they are actually called). On my boiler system, the flow of water goes from the boiler to the zone valves, to the line shut-off valves, and then to the spigot valves. Does it matter that my spigot valves are "down-line" from my line shut-off valves? In my case it seems that I would have to keep the line shut-off valve in the open position in order for the water to circulate through the entire zone, and then out the water hose. (I have 3 zones, so I would need to close the line shut-off valves of the 2 zones from which I am not trying to purge the air).
Mine are doing the same thing it’s sooooo damn loud. This is my first house with hydronic heat since I was like 6 years old (obv wasn’t the one doing it back then) I remember watching my dad bleed our radiators but the place I’m at now doesn’t have bleeders on the registers smfh. Im going to get a water hose today and doing this.
I've got a two-family house I bleed all convectors bottom and second floor but it seems that on the second floor I can't keep the kitchen and liver room convector hot.I check the shut-off valves they are ok.I bleed both convectors until they got hot. Then my tenants call me the next day saying they gotten cold again. What's the problem?
These are closed systems, correct? If you drain water out to bleed do you have to add new water into the pipes after getting rid of any air in the line? Thanks.
Excellent thanks. Just one small comment - I would let the boiler cool down completely because I wouldn't want cold water rushing through a hot heat exchanger. An onrush of cold water may create a thermal shock and crack the heat exchanger. Thank You.
This will never happen as the volume of water already in the system will act as a cushion against rapid temp change. In a teeny tiny system maybe it could be problematic but in a large one its no biggie. I work highrise building and haven't cracked a heat exchange in 15 years at that scale.
In the winter Would you let the water temperature cool down till the thermostat on the hydronic boiler went down to about 70F, which is the bottom of the scale?
Thank you for posting this. I think have that exact boiler too, or close to it with 2 zones. How often should this be done? Everytime the heater turns on I can hear it creaking a little, so this is why I suspect air.
@Thomas Joseph , I am no plumber, but I do have baseboard heat. The "creaking" you hear (like I do) could very well be just from the pipe going from a cool state to a hot state as the heated water reaches and circulates through that particular zone. The metal pipes and the metal "fins" that surround the pipe expand and contract just enough to cause that creaking sound. Now, if you hear gurgling, or something that sounds like a mini waterfall coming from inside your pipes, that means there is air in that particular zone and has to be bled out. Air in these pipes slows down the flow of water through them. That's why it is difficult to heat the rooms properly. Once the air is bled out and there is nothing but water in the pipe, then the rooms will warm up faster, once the boiler temperature is back to normal.
0:42 Is it a good idea to install "Garden Hose Fitting Quick Connectors"? It will be very easy to connect and take off the garden hose, but the tip of the quick connectors is narrower. I am worried that the narrower tip makes it hard to air purging.
Glad you found our video. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you haven't already so it makes it easier for other people to find.
Vey informative, Thanks. 2 Questions- I have 3 zones, problem chlild is zone 1. Can I just follow your instructions for that single zone or must I flush out all zones? You mentioned that the water is going to come out cold and once it goes through the boiler it will get hot but if the boiler is off, how will the water come out hot or should I run the boiler for 10 mins and then follow your instructions?
Hi. Yes. He said you will feel hot or warm water. Because the unit was ON. ( BEFORE). Is like a light bulb. You just turned off. It my be hot. When you get the cold water out. That means you purged the air out.
I've got a problem I have a two-family house.I have no problem with the bottom floor with heat. But I'm having trouble getting two conventors on the top floor base heaters to get hot.I bleed both but still not getting no hot water circulating on the supply side of the covectorI check shunt off valve it's good. Hot circulating pump at the boiler working good.What's the problem?I even have spriovent on my boiler
Would this help if you're not getting much heat on the 2nd floor? Could it be air in the line? Had this done a couple years ago and it seemed to fix it. But I also had that water regular thing break and water was all over the place. Then the plumbing guy came out and replaced the regular and bled all the zones. It was banging for a bit and then stopped. Maybe it stopped because there's more air in the line now than water? Thank you for the very organized video. Best one I've seen yet.
Thanks for the video. I have a question if you don't mind. How many pounds of pressure should my furnace be a once I complete the process of removing the air?
+Henry Rodriguez You're welcome. Most residential hot water heating systems run at 5-psi more than the pressure required to raise the water from the fill valve to the highest point in the system. In most cases the pressure gauge reads between 12- and 15-psi. Make sure the handle is down before closing the valve and it will go back to the pre-set psi.
I have a single zone system. I could hear gurgling in my baseboards which is an obvious indication that there is air I need to bleed out. Unfortunately my oil burner has a check valve that prevents water from rushing in in the event of a leak. This check valve was installed a few years ago after my old furnace cracked and leaked water all over the basement. This is a great safety measure, but it won’t allow me to flush air out of the system. Every time I try to add water the check valve clicks on preventing water from entering the system. Am I doing something wrong? How can I bleed the heating system baseboards of air with that check valve in place?
So the feeder valve is always able to provide some pressure to the system so you don't isolate it (close the valve) after you purge the air? If that's the case, so that I'm understanding this correctly, it seems that It wouldn't introduce cold water into the system in any real volume unless there is a break in the loop/valve open/or helping air purge ever so slightly via a bleeder valve.
Is bleeding the burner different from bleeding the radiators? I have a brand new oil heater and sometimes it sounds like “rattling” pipes. I’ve tried bleeding the radiators but no air ever comes out? Sorry if this is a dumb question. Single mom here, just trying to learn.
Can you please help. I recently hooked up a boiler that has two zones (one zone for the first floor and the other zone for the second floor). When I started up the boiler and turned on the thermostat on the first floor, the boiler did not start. When I started the thermostat on the second floor, the boiler did start. Any idea why the first floor thermostat didn't trigger the boiler. We wired the thermostat wires to the aquastat (red wire goes to T terminal and white wire goes to TV terminal) Please let me know if I'm missing anything. TIA
I have circulators instead of zone valves. How to I ensure the circulators are open to allow the water through when doing the same task? Do I need to shut the boiler off and then turn on my stats to do this?
+Rob Moogs Yes I did. Circulators are "passive" so even though they pump water, they will allow water through when they are off. So you don't need to do anything to them.
Circulators don't open & let water through .They're pumps that move water.. I would not recommend touching anything if you have no basic knoledge of the system..if you have radiators, radient or convectors its different
Hi I have the same looking system with 5 zone heating... the Baseboard heaters were working just fine when we moved in but now I hear banging and water dripping sounds upstairs and it has stopped heating up on the first floor. Basement and second floor works fine just the main floor doesn’t. Do you think I need to run the water to get the main floor working. Never had this type of heat before.
Ya it wouldn't hurt to flush each zone out. Most of the time the air gets trapped on the 2nd floor or higher. But if you here waterfall, water sloshing sounds there's most likely some air in there. You may want to make sure that the feeder valve and your current air scoop are working.
Thanks for the great tutorial! It looks like my 2-zone system doesn't have those auto/manual switches you show.. Is there an alternative to shut off the zone? Thanks!
@@banks8607 If your return piping has ball valves, you can close those. If not, What brand Zone Valves do you have? They should always have a manual lever on them. You may be running circulator pumps for each zone instead. In which case Ball Valves should definitely be installed somewhere on the copper for manual shut off/servicing.
I have 4 zones. 3 zones are for baseboard radiant heat. The 4th zone is for an under floor radiant heat zone. The 4th zone does not have a zone valve. Should I shutoff that ball valve as well before draining the other zones?
Does this apply to Air being anywhere in the system? Or just in the Boiler? We have air getting into the piping at the radiators. We have opened the valves to bleed the air out. Do you also have a video for setting the appropriate pressure in the Tank?
Yes, This should be able to remove air anywhere in the system. As you are adding the water to the boiler and pulling it though the boiler and then the heating loop and then out then end of the hose. I'm guessing you mean either the air is getting trapped in the radiator or thats where you hear it.. For setting the pressure in the tank are you talking about the expansion tank? Most expansion tanks require a PSI reading of about 12 PSI. You check your manual for the precise rating for your expansion tank.
I like the way you explained. Here's my question. Laars boiler. How do I fire up furnace when my my attic thermostat (120v) calls for heat. Only opens zone valve ( 120v) and kicks on secondary pump. But no fire in boiler. Primary thermostat is in 1st floor ( batteries operated) just 2 wires direct to boiler. Note. 2 zone valves are 120v. Not 24 volts. Each zone valve has its own pump to run. 1st floor and attic. But... attic thermostat is also 120 v. Cast iron radiators. The zone valves are in 2" pipes. So I don't want to mess with those. If you Just can help me how wire so the boiler kicks on when attic 120v thermostat calls for heat. Not messing the 1st floor thermostat. If is not calling. Thanks. I hope you can help. Most the guys ( companies around. ) " i never saw those zone valves before " Again. I don't need to do anything to zone valves. I just need fire up the boiler for the attic.
I have 3 zones and only see the 3 silver boxes(zone valves) between each purge outlet and the furnace. I don’t see any zone valves on the other pump side. It seems from the furnace, they pass the expansion tank then go through the house. Am I missing something?
I realize you posted this video several years ago but it is still very relevant. And it's a great video so thank you. My question for is that of my 4 zones I've got air in two of them. My house is a split level - basement is fine but floors 1 & 3 are where I continue to have an issue. I've successfully flushed the air out of both zones (one at a time) using the method you show. I've done this now a couple of times but somehow there seems to be air remaining because once the boiler is up to temp and the zones kick on I can still hear some gurgling. Any suggestions on where that air might be hiding and/or how I can ensure I've removed all the air?
Do you get full hose pressure or volume out of the hose on those zones? I would try and flush each zone, so do all four as you might have air lurking in another one of the other zones. Once everything is back on the air gets pushed out of that zone and caught in zone 1 or 3. Also when adding or bleeding the air out of the zones the colder water can hold more oxygen and gases and when its heated they come out of the water and form air pockets as well. So you will want to make sure your feeder valve is working, double check the gauge on the boiler is correct and you have the correct amount of pressure in the boiler. ( most of the time there off) and I would check the air scoop or your device that automatically removes air from the system. If you can I would upgrade it to a Spirovent. You wont get all the air out but you should get 90-95% or so and the air scoop or spirovent should get the rest and keep up so there is almost no air in the system.
I do get decent hose pressure/volume. I also increase the input pressure to just over 20 psi to ensure I get it all out especially on the upper levels. I once pushed it to just over 30 psi and lo and behold the pressure relief valve did its job and works nicely at 30 psi LOL. But your advice was right on....I flushed every zone starting with the basement zone first and working my way up vertically and that fixed the issue. The air was hiding in zones that I thought were fine. I like the idea of adding the Spirovent but plan on holding off for now since that section is tight to work with and is all threaded black pipe which will be somewhat of a pain in which to work. If this happens again and/or too frequently I'll most likely take that advice as well. Thank you for your help.
It's good to know that your PRV works and at the right PSI. Yea we install a spirovent on any system we work on as they are far better at getting and keeping air out of the system. Glad we could help. Thanks for watching and don't forget to give the video a thumbs up.
Hello and great video. One question, I followed the directions and everything worked fine except for some emergency relief valve leakage from the boiler after the 4 zones were purged. How do you do this without experiencing the leaks after the boiler fires back up? It seems the pressure was too high and water was needing to be released?
when raising water pressure you must watch your pressure gauge.Never let it get above 30psi which is when your pressure relief valve dumps water to relieve pressure above 30psi. When finished your pressure should be around 12psi when cool.
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I must thank you my friend, today we came home and it is literally -0° (Boston MA) and after watching your video, I was able to turn our heater on, thank God for this new technology and your RUclips channel, we have 3 babies that were gonna be very cold, but thank you again
God Bless you!!!
Your video just saved me money. I was reading forums and got nowhere. You gave me the info I needed to get my house warm again. Thanks!!
I have to add my many thanks too. My system was a bit more complicated with six zones, different makes and configuration, but with your clear and thorough explanations I was able to translate to my system and solve my air problem after installing a new circulation pump. Much appreciated!
Thanks again for sharing this great tutorial. I just used it bleed out my mom's heating system. Saved us time and money and now we can do it ourselves going forward. God bless you!
Excellent video! Clear, concise, plain, simple and to the point. Upvoted and subscribed!
I have looked at about 20 videos and they are so scattered. You made this so simple. Thank you for showing this task in a simple way and not over engineering it. Appreciated!
Glad you found are video helpful. You're welcome. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
Can you open the valve that adds water when purging the 1st floor too?
@@TheDIYGuyDOTnet *our
Your video is PERFECT !!! Simple to follow , straight to the point. Well done !!!!
I did a Google search, your video was the first to show. I can see why, the perfect-to the point DIY. I will watch your entire library, a great teacher you are, thank you!
Thanks DIY Guy! It helps to know what one is doing, doesn't it?
Remember DIY, that God loves you and He did it Himself, and not according to our plans or according to our instructions 🙂
Thank you!!! This video help me fixed my heat. I had an appointment for a Plummer to come but I had canceled it after following the steps from this video.
Awesome tutorial. Just bought a house with this type of system and I have never had this type. Very helpful now I know how to get rid of the noises!
Best video on this subject, that I've seen. Nice steady shot of the system instead of the life-during-an-earthquake vids others have posted.
Just wanted to say it's awesome the content creator is taking the time to answer everyone's questions. Great video by the way.
We do try and answer all the comments or questions we get. The idea behind the channel is to help people so if we can do that by answering someones question to help clarify something for them. Thank you for taking the time to watch our video and leave us a comment. Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up. Thanks
Thanks for your video, makes it simple and easy to watch and understand the process. I will definitely go back to watch again when i try to do it next time.
Thanks a lot for the DIY video. It makes a lot of sense. I had my boiling firing on but the water is not circulating. Initially I thought the pump is broken. Then I leaked some water from the pressure valve and also added more water pressure from the refill valve. The pump seems working again now. But I guess I should do it properly to remove move air now after watching your video. Just one question. My returning water not only goes back to boiler for reheating but it also connects directly to the hot water sending side (without reheating). There is a valve between that link however that valve is turned on right now. This is very strange to me. Why the returning water not just go back to boiler? And now I am not sure how I can drain the water to remove air. I guess I must shut off the valve so that the returning water does not go back to hot water side. Thanks!
Wow clear simple explanation. The best video on RUclips! Thank You for this.
I watch this video every year (at least 3 years in a row now) when I bleed my system to remind myself how to do it correctly. Thanks!
Great. Nice straightforward explanation. Just the ticket.
Great video. Straight to the point, simple. Thank you!
You're welcome, Glad we could help and you found our video helpful. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
Clutch video. I had been putting this off for years! A 20 dollar hose got me my sleep back! Thanks so much
Thanks for this. I wasn't doing it right. I could not get the air out of my upstairs zone because I closed the downstairs valve but left the upstairs valve open (yellow handles). Some of the air came out the hose but some of it continued past the hose and back around into the zone again. After 30 minutes of failure I gave up and looked online and found your video.
The key point you taught me is to close ALL the valves including on the zone you're bleeding, which forces all the water and air out the hose.
you should also leave the lever up on the feeder valve while bleeding to make up the pressure lost.
@@huilin5841 True but if you do that then you also need to watch your pressure gauge! Must keep it below 30psi or the pressure relief valve will dump water all over the floor.
THANK YOU! I've done a lot of work on this boiler to keep it running and some cold nights. Just replaced the taco pump and the temp gauge, total of $200 and I'm hoping it saved me from a brand new boiler for at least one more year! Just got quoted on a new boiler, $20K!!! There was a ton of water in my system after doing this work and it was so cool to hear the air coming out and then finally running clean and with no air I hope! I'm not sure what happens when there is air in the system.... but I'm glad I did it. Woke up in a warm house.
Thank you for your video! You explained step by step clearly and now I have heat!!!! Thank you and God bless!!!
Great demostration step by step the best.great job
nice work.
I have a 9-zone system + sidearm water heater. 2 loops dead (driveway, long ago, garage froze and ruptured loop more recently, cutoffs and zone-valves hold water). 7 to bleed air from. 2 floors, water dist manifolds on ceiling of boiler room (driven by 2nd pump, on 2nd loop), downstairs loops do a lot of up/down from furnace to manifolds, to loops. Lots of air-trap potential.
which floor should I purge 1st ? bottom ??
does banging tend to happen when the loop with air is being heated, and not otherwize ? If so, I could start to check whats hot when I hear banging, and purge that loop 1st.
furnace primary loop has 2 drain valves with cutoff between, this looks like the spot. water fill is downstream of the cutoff, I presume drain valve is upstream of cutoff ?
should I wait til spring ?
Great video. I had a heating service come by to do this with an annual cleaning but the air bubbles come back in the line within 3-4 months. NE living still need the heat through May.
This is the most concise video I have found for this process. Thank you
AYou're welcome. glad we could help. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you haven't already so it makes it easier for other people to find.
Thank you so much. Worked great. Air wasn’t apparently causing pressure in furnace to be higher than it should be
Thank you for your video. Your explanation is clear, to the point and without the unnecessary banter that are found in other videos. I followed your instructions and 5 minutes later my pipes are quiet once again. Money saved on plumbers can go towards pizza night.
Absolutely! No bullshit! Straight to the point!!!!!
Omg! Thank you for this video! My system is basically the same except for the zone valve. My is a Honeywell V8043E Zone valve.
Thank you for the video. It was very helpful 👍🏽
Thanks for the great video. It was very informative and allowed me to safely bleed the air from my heating system.
thank you so much for the keeping it simple and to the point! Well done!
You're welcome. Glad you found our video straight forward and helpful. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
First, thank you so much for this informative video. I'm a disabled senior widow, on a fixed income. I found this video after I opened the valves that water come out of. That's all I did, but I used a kitchen mop buck, and up and down the stair. It worked and now I have heat. I thought that honeywell thermostat wasn't working. I hate that thing to. I have heat now. Of course this was on the coldest day so far this yr. 20 degrees. Plus a Sunday. That bill would have been at least $350 here in NY. I have a question. How does air get in the pipes in a closed system. I've never had to do this until 2yrs. ago. Again thank you and looking forward to your answer.
Used your instructions for a Second year in a row, great work
Thank you for this. I’ve been looking for a video tutorial and you’ve explained it to the T. No need to hire someone to do it.
Thanks for posting! Would you be able to tell me how I can check the water level on a slant/fin S90 boiler?
I have subscribed!!! You sir have saved me from the plumbers greedy hands.
Hi, this is a great video. But I have one question. My new Yorker boiler is tankless. Should I still turn the oil switch off in that case? How would the water from the line heat up otherwise?
Thank you so much ive been trying to get air out with no luck didn't know about the zone valve switch . Great video
Thank you for sharing your videos!!
Question: As I recall when I did this a few years ago, the pressure dropped too much to push a healthy stream of water out the hose and I had to pull the lever up on the Feeder Valve to get the pressure back up. (Yeah, one year I left the room and heard a loud noise as there was TOO much pressure and the overflow pipe blew water over the floor - though I must say the system was really toasty that year). Since then, 2 out of my 3 zones had small little "air bleeders" installed. I think they are supposed to automatically bleed the air out of those zones. Do I periodically open those bleeders to get air out? Also, there is an Isolation Valve to the overhead Expansion Tank. One repair guy bleeds with it open, another guy said you had to close it when bleeding, etc. So, I am stumped on that. TIA
I’m having this same problem. How did you resolve the water from overflowing??
You rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was missing a step when bleeding our system. I now know how to do it better. Thank you!
Great video. Clear, step-by-step instructions. I looked though a half dozen others before I found yours.
+Larry Hecht Well glad to hear you found our video. Thanks for taking the time to leave us a comment and for watching.
Great video, thank you! I tried it and it worked perfectly. The only thing I did differently is run the hose into a large bucket, so I could see the air bubbles bubble-up through the water - when this stopped for a while I knew any air was purged. Thanks again.
You're welcome, Glad we could help. Thanks for watching and taking time to leave us a comment. Another person said that in a comment as well. Good idea. Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up/ like if you haven't already. Thanks
thank you so much for the video, helped out Tremendously
And saved you hundreds of $$$$ most likely
you are the best man!!!...didnt listen properly first my bad. I screwed it....then listened properly and it is a piece of cake!!
This is a fantastic video but what happens if you don't have a shut off valve by the drain valve? Is there a check valve in the circulator pump to prevent water from flowing from the boiler?
Great Video, thanks!!!
Thank you so much for this! It's been driving me crazy thinking I'll need a plumber and now that I've done it and seen how easy that was I'd cry if I'd have shelled $150 for that.
You're welcome, Glad we could help save you some money and give you the confidence to take this take on. Thanks for taking the time to leave us a comment and for watching and don't forget to share and thumbs up the video.
Thanks, DIY Guy! Worked like a dream and probably saved me at least 200 bucks!
Glad to hear that it worked for you and that we could help save you some money. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
@@TheDIYGuyDOTnet got any videos on how to r&r a dripping relief valve?
Hi. Enjoyed your video.
Is the zone valve like a circulator?
A zone valve is just that, A valve that opens when the t-stat calls for heat to allow the hot water to flow though the zone. ( t-stat also turn on the circ pump as it opens the valve) The circ pump is whats used to push the water though the zone. Most older houses had a circulator pump for each zone. Most newer houses have zone valves on each zone and one circ pump. The reason for this is to save energy by having one pump and zone valves and also to save space being that a zone valve is smaller then pumps.
I have a similar setup with the boiler. I have tankless hot water tho. I want to tie a wood stove so I can heat with oil and wood. I believe I have steam heat, cast iron radiators. I want to connect the wood stove chimney to the oil burner with a T so i dont need a separate chimmney setup. having a electronic flap for the oil burner can I even do this?
Does it go before or after the flap? I'm sick of being cold and always running out of oil
This was invaluable info in purging the air from the system after I had to open it up to fix a leak in a PEX clamp connection that must have been poorly installed. Clamp just split completely and it ruined the flooring and ceiling below from the slow leak that resulted.
Followed the sequence of closing the ball valve, connecting the drain hose to the gate valve, opening the gate valve and letting the air get mostly pushed out. For some reason the second story zone still apparently has some air in it because it can be heard as the circulation is going on but at least it's now delivering heat, where it was completely cold before.
Tried the rapid fill to increase the pressure but that resulted in the pressure release popping, so I could only do that very sparingly, to avoid flooding the floor when it released.
I may try another purge session after it runs a while under pressure.
nice video is that gonna get all the dirt from the system as will or there is another way to do that thx
Great explanation. Thank you!
You're welcome, Glad we could help and thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
I see you didn’t adjust your folk pressure valve at all. Other people have done so but I’m scared of damaging/flooding my system. What are your thoughts?
Very simple no idle chatter video. Excellent job.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
Thanks for the video. Question for you, are those hose bibs at the return to the boiler?
You're welcome. The piece where you could attach the hose would be called Boiler Drain or Boiler Drain Valve. To be really specific for these in the video 1/2" MPT Boiler Drain, Male Threaded. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment/ question. Don't forget to give the video a thumbs up/ like if you haven't already. Thanks
Thank You for your video something so simple to resolve!! Money saver for sure!
Thank you this video is so helpful
I don't have any shut off valves for my loops like you do here. I do have Taco zone valves right after the drain valves on my loops so I'm guessing they will act as the as a shut off valve if they're in the closed position?
What if im in an apartment building and have a separate thing of valves in my closet of my apt. , are those to be able to get air out? I've been having rushing/trickling water sound often. It goes through 3 baseboard heaters
Very informative. Question- I need to purge one out of three zones only. For that single zone, do I need to shut all return valves or just the one that I need purged and leave the other 2 in normal open position? Thanks
You could get away with not shutting the other ones. But I find it best to shut all just to be sure that all the water pressure goes though the zone your trying to purge. In case that shutoff valve leaks.
Great tutorial. Thank you for sharing.
+Ivan Torres You're welcome, Thanks for watching.
@TheDIYGuyDOTnet In this video, on your system the direction of the flow of boiler water goes from the boiler, to the zone valves, to the "spigot valves", to the "line shut-off valves". (I'm not sure what they are actually called).
On my boiler system, the flow of water goes from the boiler to the zone valves, to the line shut-off valves, and then to the spigot valves. Does it matter that my spigot valves are "down-line" from my line shut-off valves?
In my case it seems that I would have to keep the line shut-off valve in the open position in order for the water to circulate through the entire zone, and then out the water hose. (I have 3 zones, so I would need to close the line shut-off valves of the 2 zones from which I am not trying to purge the air).
I'm watching this as I hear the waterfall noise that is my floor heaters. Yea this is happening this week lol
Mine are doing the same thing it’s sooooo damn loud. This is my first house with hydronic heat since I was like 6 years old (obv wasn’t the one doing it back then) I remember watching my dad bleed our radiators but the place I’m at now doesn’t have bleeders on the registers smfh. Im going to get a water hose today and doing this.
What a coincidence we have the same name and our first house lol. I'm lucky I got bleeders at each section.
Ppp
Pqa
I've got a two-family house I bleed all convectors bottom and second
floor but it seems that on the second floor I can't keep the kitchen and
liver room convector hot.I check the shut-off valves they are ok.I
bleed both convectors until they got hot. Then my tenants call me the
next day saying they gotten cold again. What's the problem?
These are closed systems, correct? If you drain water out to bleed do you have to add new water into the pipes after getting rid of any air in the line? Thanks.
Excellent thanks. Just one small comment - I would let the boiler cool down completely because I wouldn't want cold water rushing through a hot heat exchanger. An onrush of cold water may create a thermal shock and crack the heat exchanger. Thank You.
This will never happen as the volume of water already in the system will act as a cushion against rapid temp change. In a teeny tiny system maybe it could be problematic but in a large one its no biggie. I work highrise building and haven't cracked a heat exchange in 15 years at that scale.
Hey Rick I did this a couple times and I still got water hammer what do you think @@rickywinthrop
In the winter Would you let the water temperature cool down till the thermostat on the hydronic boiler went down to about 70F, which is the bottom of the scale?
Thank you for posting this. I think have that exact boiler too, or close to it with 2 zones.
How often should this be done? Everytime the heater turns on I can hear it creaking a little, so this is why I suspect air.
@Thomas Joseph , I am no plumber, but I do have baseboard heat. The "creaking" you hear (like I do) could very well be just from the pipe going from a cool state to a hot state as the heated water reaches and circulates through that particular zone. The metal pipes and the metal "fins" that surround the pipe expand and contract just enough to cause that creaking sound.
Now, if you hear gurgling, or something that sounds like a mini waterfall coming from inside your pipes, that means there is air in that particular zone and has to be bled out. Air in these pipes slows down the flow of water through them. That's why it is difficult to heat the rooms properly. Once the air is bled out and there is nothing but water in the pipe, then the rooms will warm up faster, once the boiler temperature is back to normal.
0:42 Is it a good idea to install "Garden Hose Fitting Quick Connectors"? It will be very easy to connect and take off the garden hose, but the tip of the quick connectors is narrower. I am worried that the narrower tip makes it hard to air purging.
In order to get enough pressure to force out the air in the line don't you have to also open the auto feed valve fully?
Awesome video, and steady camera, love it
Glad you found our video. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you haven't already so it makes it easier for other people to find.
Vey informative, Thanks.
2 Questions- I have 3 zones, problem chlild is zone 1. Can I just follow your instructions for that single zone or must I flush out all zones?
You mentioned that the water is going to come out cold and once it goes through the boiler it will get hot but if the boiler is off, how will the water come out hot or should I run the boiler for 10 mins and then follow your instructions?
Hi. Yes. He said you will feel hot or warm water. Because the unit was ON. ( BEFORE). Is like a light bulb. You just turned off. It my be hot. When you get the cold water out. That means you purged the air out.
I've got a problem I have a two-family house.I have no problem with the
bottom floor with heat. But I'm having trouble getting two conventors on
the top floor base heaters to get hot.I bleed both but still not
getting no hot water circulating on the supply side of the covectorI
check shunt off valve it's good. Hot circulating pump at the boiler
working good.What's the problem?I even have spriovent on my boiler
Would this help if you're not getting much heat on the 2nd floor? Could it be air in the line? Had this done a couple years ago and it seemed to fix it. But I also had that water regular thing break and water was all over the place. Then the plumbing guy came out and replaced the regular and bled all the zones. It was banging for a bit and then stopped. Maybe it stopped because there's more air in the line now than water? Thank you for the very organized video. Best one I've seen yet.
check if your circulator pump is working....
Thanks for the video. I have a question if you don't mind. How many pounds of pressure should my furnace be a once I complete the process of removing the air?
+Henry Rodriguez You're welcome. Most residential hot water heating systems run at 5-psi more than the pressure required to raise the water from the fill valve to the highest point in the system. In most cases the pressure gauge reads between 12- and 15-psi. Make sure the handle is down before closing the valve and it will go back to the pre-set psi.
Hmm, I live on the third floor and need to flip the municipal water lever to full on, will that blow my pressure valve?
Simple set up nice work 👍
Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
I have a single zone system. I could hear gurgling in my baseboards which is an obvious indication that there is air I need to bleed out. Unfortunately my oil burner has a check valve that prevents water from rushing in in the event of a leak. This check valve was installed a few years ago after my old furnace cracked and leaked water all over the basement. This is a great safety measure, but it won’t allow me to flush air out of the system. Every time I try to add water the check valve clicks on preventing water from entering the system. Am I doing something wrong? How can I bleed the heating system baseboards of air with that check valve in place?
So the feeder valve is always able to provide some pressure to the system so you don't isolate it (close the valve) after you purge the air? If that's the case, so that I'm understanding this correctly, it seems that It wouldn't introduce cold water into the system in any real volume unless there is a break in the loop/valve open/or helping air purge ever so slightly via a bleeder valve.
Is bleeding the burner different from bleeding the radiators?
I have a brand new oil heater and sometimes it sounds like “rattling” pipes. I’ve tried bleeding the radiators but no air ever comes out?
Sorry if this is a dumb question. Single mom here, just trying to learn.
Thank you it worked!!!
Can you please help. I recently hooked up a boiler that has two zones (one zone for the first floor and the other zone for the second floor). When I started up the boiler and turned on the thermostat on the first floor, the boiler did not start. When I started the thermostat on the second floor, the boiler did start. Any idea why the first floor thermostat didn't trigger the boiler. We wired the thermostat wires to the aquastat (red wire goes to T terminal and white wire goes to TV terminal) Please let me know if I'm missing anything. TIA
I have antifreeze in my pipes...is this still the correct procedure to purge air in my system?
I have circulators instead of zone valves. How to I ensure the circulators are open to allow the water through when doing the same task? Do I need to shut the boiler off and then turn on my stats to do this?
+adameater i have circulators as well instead of zone valves. Were you able to resolve this?
+Rob Moogs Yes I did. Circulators are "passive" so even though they pump water, they will allow water through when they are off. So you don't need to do anything to them.
Circulators don't open & let water through .They're pumps that move water..
I would not recommend touching anything if you have no basic knoledge of the system..if you have radiators, radient or convectors its different
Hi I have the same looking system with 5 zone heating... the Baseboard heaters were working just fine when we moved in but now I hear banging and water dripping sounds upstairs and it has stopped heating up on the first floor. Basement and second floor works fine just the main floor doesn’t. Do you think I need to run the water to get the main floor working. Never had this type of heat before.
Ya it wouldn't hurt to flush each zone out. Most of the time the air gets trapped on the 2nd floor or higher. But if you here waterfall, water sloshing sounds there's most likely some air in there. You may want to make sure that the feeder valve and your current air scoop are working.
Thanks for the great tutorial! It looks like my 2-zone system doesn't have those auto/manual switches you show.. Is there an alternative to shut off the zone? Thanks!
would also like to know this??
@@banks8607 If your return piping has ball valves, you can close those. If not, What brand Zone Valves do you have? They should always have a manual lever on them.
You may be running circulator pumps for each zone instead. In which case Ball Valves should definitely be installed somewhere on the copper for manual shut off/servicing.
excellent video....worked gr8 for us....thanks.
+mikeatc33 Great glad to hear we could help. Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave us a comment.
+TheDIYGuyDOTnet my heat work downstairs but not upstairs it's a oil furnace plz help it's 2 degrees in my city
I only have one zone that has a return valve, how do I do the other three?
I have 4 zones. 3 zones are for baseboard radiant heat. The 4th zone is for an under floor radiant heat zone. The 4th zone does not have a zone valve. Should I shutoff that ball valve as well before draining the other zones?
Does this apply to Air being anywhere in the system? Or just in the Boiler? We have air getting into the piping at the radiators. We have opened the valves to bleed the air out. Do you also have a video for setting the appropriate pressure in the Tank?
Yes, This should be able to remove air anywhere in the system. As you are adding the water to the boiler and pulling it though the boiler and then the heating loop and then out then end of the hose. I'm guessing you mean either the air is getting trapped in the radiator or thats where you hear it.. For setting the pressure in the tank are you talking about the expansion tank? Most expansion tanks require a PSI reading of about 12 PSI. You check your manual for the precise rating for your expansion tank.
Great video so helpful
I like the way you explained. Here's my question. Laars boiler.
How do I fire up furnace when my my attic thermostat (120v) calls for heat. Only opens zone valve ( 120v) and kicks on secondary pump. But no fire in boiler.
Primary thermostat is in 1st floor ( batteries operated) just 2 wires direct to boiler.
Note. 2 zone valves are 120v. Not 24 volts. Each zone valve has its own pump to run. 1st floor and attic. But... attic thermostat is also 120 v.
Cast iron radiators. The zone valves are in 2" pipes. So I don't want to mess with those. If you Just can help me how wire so the boiler kicks on when attic 120v thermostat calls for heat. Not messing the 1st floor thermostat. If is not calling. Thanks. I hope you can help. Most the guys ( companies around. ) " i never saw those zone valves before "
Again.
I don't need to do anything to zone valves. I just need fire up the boiler for the attic.
I have 3 zones and only see the 3 silver boxes(zone valves) between each purge outlet and the furnace. I don’t see any zone valves on the other pump side. It seems from the furnace, they pass the expansion tank then go through the house. Am I missing something?
I don't think i have a zone control valve, but i do see a pressure reducing valve. Is this okay?
How long do you let the hose water run for?
I realize you posted this video several years ago but it is still very relevant. And it's a great video so thank you. My question for is that of my 4 zones I've got air in two of them. My house is a split level - basement is fine but floors 1 & 3 are where I continue to have an issue. I've successfully flushed the air out of both zones (one at a time) using the method you show. I've done this now a couple of times but somehow there seems to be air remaining because once the boiler is up to temp and the zones kick on I can still hear some gurgling. Any suggestions on where that air might be hiding and/or how I can ensure I've removed all the air?
Do you get full hose pressure or volume out of the hose on those zones? I would try and flush each zone, so do all four as you might have air lurking in another one of the other zones. Once everything is back on the air gets pushed out of that zone and caught in zone 1 or 3. Also when adding or bleeding the air out of the zones the colder water can hold more oxygen and gases and when its heated they come out of the water and form air pockets as well. So you will want to make sure your feeder valve is working, double check the gauge on the boiler is correct and you have the correct amount of pressure in the boiler. ( most of the time there off) and I would check the air scoop or your device that automatically removes air from the system. If you can I would upgrade it to a Spirovent. You wont get all the air out but you should get 90-95% or so and the air scoop or spirovent should get the rest and keep up so there is almost no air in the system.
I do get decent hose pressure/volume. I also increase the input pressure to just over 20 psi to ensure I get it all out especially on the upper levels. I once pushed it to just over 30 psi and lo and behold the pressure relief valve did its job and works nicely at 30 psi LOL. But your advice was right on....I flushed every zone starting with the basement zone first and working my way up vertically and that fixed the issue. The air was hiding in zones that I thought were fine. I like the idea of adding the Spirovent but plan on holding off for now since that section is tight to work with and is all threaded black pipe which will be somewhat of a pain in which to work. If this happens again and/or too frequently I'll most likely take that advice as well. Thank you for your help.
It's good to know that your PRV works and at the right PSI. Yea we install a spirovent on any system we work on as they are far better at getting and keeping air out of the system. Glad we could help. Thanks for watching and don't forget to give the video a thumbs up.
@@TheDIYGuyDOTnet
What if you don't have the gate valves above the lever shut offs for the hose?
Hello and great video. One question, I followed the directions and everything worked fine except for some emergency relief valve leakage from the boiler after the 4 zones were purged. How do you do this without experiencing the leaks after the boiler fires back up? It seems the pressure was too high and water was needing to be released?
when raising water pressure you must watch your pressure gauge.Never let it get above 30psi which is when your pressure relief valve dumps water to relieve pressure above 30psi. When finished your pressure should be around 12psi when cool.
@@mattfoley6082 thank you!
All of my zones return and combine into one pipe.There is a single valve to connect the hose to. Will this still work the same way?
Thank you,it worked