Urgent help needed with heater!

15 years ago

Please see the original thread here to see the original problem:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hvac/msg0102565823467.html?3

(continued)

I had a hard time finding a place that would sell me the air scoop vent I needed without me being a licensed contractor, but I found one.

He took one look at the vent and asked me if there was a cap that screwed on to the vent. I told him that if there was one, who knows where it went, it might have even been sucked up in my wet/dry vac when I cleaned up the small pond I had this morning.

I don't know if I have another problem though. I hooked up a hose to the drain plug and drained the system. I tightened the cap on the vent as instructed. I then opened up the fill valve and let the water run for a while. Pretty soon, however, water started coming out of my pressure-release valve, which, of course, I was not prepared for, and it made another mess.

After that cleanup, I added a LITTLE more water to it, opened up the vent cap one full turn as instructed, and turned it on. Nothing was leaking from the vent, so that's a good sign.

My questions are:

1) How do I know there's no air in the system? I was originally told to "add water until no air comes out of the hose, then close the drain, and then close the fill valve, however doing that then sent water out of the pressure-release valve.

2) Is the PRV bad, or did I just do something wrong? I was told before that the little bell-shaped thingie in the fill line only added water if the system needed it, so why did it continue to add water to the point that the PRV opened? Shouldn't the limit on the PRV be higher than that of the bell-thingie? (I'm so technical!)

3) What pressure should I be setting this thing to? It's very hard to get in a position to read the gauge, because it's on the left side of the heater, as is the hot water heater, so I guess I would have to use a mirror, or else take a picture with a camera and look at the image.

4) Don't most places have a drain near there? We have a drain in the cellar, but it's over by the washing machine hookup. Unfortunately, this means that if the heater or water heater leaks, the water runs all the way across the floor until it gets to the drain and then it's a total mess.

I think that's it for now. Hopefully I can get an answer so that I can rest easily AND warmly tonight! I really don't want to keep running down there every half hour to check for leaks.

Thanks again!

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Comments (3)

baymee
15 years ago
I wonder where you live, you should be able to buy a vent anywhere. Especially on the internet.

You must have had house pressure pushing water through the hose. Using house pressure, you should turn off the supply valve first and then the hose. In any event, using house pressure, it must be done with a cracked open valve so as not to cause the PRV to open.

If it sealed, no harm done.

If your boiler is pressured to 13#, and the air is out, it will circulate (probably)as long as you bleed properly through the hose.

Sounds like you have an auto fill valve. With the lever in one position, it will fill to 13# and stop. With the lever in the other position, it will supply 60# or more of house pressure. Your PRV is rated at 39#.

I'm not really sure what you were doing in the first place.
criticalmass048
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you SO much for the quick advice! It made total sense and makes me feel better.

The original problem involved a bad vent on my air scoop in the middle of the night. I had no heat, saw water coming out of the vent, and THOUGHT I drained the system correctly, but apparently not, because it continued to drain all night long (groan).

As for the problem, I live right in Philadelphia. Big area, sure, but HVAC supply places around here don't want to sell parts to DIYers due to liability issues. One place I called today even told me he's "not permitted to even give me a price or availability of the part that I need" because I'm a homeowner, and not a pro.

Fortunately, I ran into this problem two years ago when my vent flue (correct term?) went. Lots of places had it, but only one would sell it to me.

The original problem is at this link. Sorry, I forgot I could put a link at the bottom of my post!

Here is a link that might be useful: Original problem located here
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baymee
15 years ago
Those vents might even be available at home despot.

Anyway, there is a cap on them, as you know, to stop leaking. Leaking isn't an uncommon problem, so you just close the cap until you have time to fix it.

Google Amtrol vents and you'll see them online. You might want to order a few.

It wasn't necessary to drain the boiler. A pro will reduce the system to zero pressure and just unscrew it and quickly put the new one in. That's assuming that you have the other bleeders capped. An automobile tire valve cap might even have worked. I was on a warranty job recently where the guy unscrewed a 2" boiler plug out to the last thread with the system under 20# of pressure and not isolated, with 41 gallons of scalding water in the boiler. He knew he backed it out far enough when a tiny stream of steady water blew across the basement. While I stood back, he calmly applied blue dope to the threads and turned it back in again. Leak solved. He has more nerve than I do.