Help with bleeding please!

[Eastcoast]

I had to drain my system to fix something but now I got all the water back in and I don't have air vents on my rads so I was told to only have the zone valve open that I want to bleed and hook the hose to the drain that I circled green and to close the ball valve at the bottom that I also circled green it seemd to work and I get heat to my rads but now the pipe that is coming from my wood boiler to the oil boilerwith a circulator pump that I show in the pic I keep hearing sounds like rushing or gushing water all the time like there is still air or something! Did I bleed it wrong was I supposed to leave the valve I circled at the bottom open while I bleed it?

 

[maple1]

As long as your system pressure is where it should be and you are getting heat from your rads the air should work itself out of the air vents eventually.

 

[Eastcoast]

Ok that's what I thought but I just wanted to make sure! I'll leave it run for a few days and hopefully the air works out the auto vents! Thanks

 

[salecker]

You can remove air with a magic bucket...
Tou need a 5 gal bucket,a pump and three hoses.
Find a high spot with a valve and a low spot with a valve.
Hook your discharge hose to the high valve and submerge the end in the same fluid that you have in the boiler which is in the bucket,then hook the discharge from pump up to the lower valve,suction from the pump in the bucket.Turn on the pump and up the valves.Let the pump run till you don't see any more air coming out of the hose from the high valve.
I have used this bucket many times and is always successful on removing the air from the system.
I have added zones to my system while its in operation,purged the zone with the bucket, then open the valves to the existing system and had no sounds of air moving.

 

[Eastcoast]

That seems like a really good idea but i only have 1 spot to hook a hose to drain all 4 zones

 

[Eastcoast]

It seems like I have got all my zones bleed and I am getting heat from all my rads, but when I light my wood boiler and it gets up to temp I can here water like gurgling or gushing or something inside the boiler where I circled. would this mean I still have air? My temp on the boiler is set to 180lo and 200hi it shouldn't be boiling water at this temp right? Also if it's air I have 2 new auto vents in the system will they eventually take care of it?

 

[Jeff S]

Not sure why you wouldn't have manual air vents in the top of your radiators to make sure they filled with water ,they are inexpensive . also do you some kind of air vent at the top of your system ?

 

[Eastcoast]

I'm not sure why they are not on the rads! it was like this when I bought the house, I do have 2 automatic air vents one at a high point by my wood boiler and one by my oil boiler just beside the blow off valve not very high up.

 

[Jeff S]

Tell me more about your system.

Boilers in basement ?

Are we talking cast iron radiators?

How are radiators pipe ? If the Cast iron radiators are designed for hot water they usually have 4 places to thread pipe into, 2 on bottom and 2 on top.

Are radiators on first floor only or do you have a 2nd floors with some as well.

 

[Eastcoast]

I have a Kerr tw2000 wood boiler in my garage and a ny thermal oil boiler in my basement. The boilers are connected together so once my wood boiler drops to 150 my oil takes over until I light my wood boiler again. I have baseboard rads with fins, I have a basement and 1 level above the basement. My wood boiler is set to lo-180 and hi-200 and limit control at 150. And on my oil boiler it's set at lo-150 and high-170 with the diff dial set at 15, and I have a beacon hot water unit heater with a fan on it that heats my garage and it's also a dump zone. And I have 2 circulating pumps the one beside my wood boiler is set on medium and the one in the basement beside the oil boiler is not adjustable, I have a steel expansion tank obove my wood boiler and I have a bladder type expansion tank by my oil boiler! Just let me know if you need any other info or pictures

 

[Jeff S]

Ok, when you said radiator I thought you meant cast iron sounds like you have fin tube which is basically a pipe surrounded by fins. Air vents are not critical here because your basically filling a pipe with water and not the "chambers " of a CI rad that can hold slot of air. The method your using may be your best option.

 

[Eastcoast]

My rads seem to be not bad now and I'm getting heat but this pipe that runs from my wood boiler to my oil boiler I'm hearing like gushing sound constantly right in the wood boiler itself and if I shut the ball valve off by the circulating pump it stops the noise is there a way to bleed this out out of my wood boiler also or maybe my wood boiler is bad?

 

[Eastcoast]

I was just thinking like could I use my blow off valve on the wood boiler to let pressure and maybe air escape from the boiler itself?

 

[Eastcoast]

Or could I put a garden hose behind the wood boiler and bleed the boiler through that? Cause I did emty my hole system before even the holding tank in my wood boiler for maintenance if that helps you any better for a solution.

 

[Jeff S]

It does sound like you may still have air. I believe the valve your talking about is for draining the boiler not for bleeding air. Any air to be bleed would be at the top of your system , your blow off or pressure relief valve is at the top of boiler not the top of your system.

Don't turn the valve next to circulator off unless you want to burn it up.

 

[Eastcoast]

Ya that's what I'm thinking still air! in this pic is how I bleed all 4 zones where I hook the garden hose up and the valve I shut off are both circled green I just manually open each zone valve one at a time to bleed each of them! Plus I got an auto vent not sure why I can't get all the air

 

[Eastcoast]

Ok I let the fire go out in my wood boiler so now I'm heating with the oil boiler and water is still running through the 1 inch pipe that goes through my wood boiler I can tell the water is still running through it but it is really quiet now but my circulating pump beside the wood boiler is also off now to! Would this mean I have a bad circulating pump?

 

[Jeff S]

If everything was filled with water (no air) you shouldn't hear water running even with the circulator off. Your circulator may be making noise because its running dry , again air issues.

 

[Eastcoast]

I wonder if I should try and bleed it again maybe leave it run longer on each zone I bleed to see if it will get more air out? And could my steel expansion tank above my wood boiler be bloaded or anything maybe I could drain that and let it refill to the proper amount?

 

[Jeff S]

Sound like the oil boiler side is bleed enough to keep water in fin tube and heat house that if I'm reading correctly is a single story with basement. That would probably make everything above the top of your wood boiler higher than your fin tube. You also say the expansion tank for the wood boiler is a steel tank (not bladder) and in my mind I'm thinking that is the highest part of your system. If this is true due you know if you have water in that tank at this time ? If you do it would seem that your system is full. If you don't perhaps you could isolate the 2 systems and bleed the wood boiler side only.

If the wood boiler side is higher like I'm suggesting and you bleed the zone valves hooked to the oil side , your water height is probably only as high as your highest fin tube that would make you wood side partially filled.

 

[Eastcoast]

Yes thats right just a single story with a basement but my upstairs level where my rads are is higher than my wood boiler in the garage! And right now I didn't have any heat on for like 3 hours cause it's not cold outside and my expansion tank above the wood boiler seems pretty full and it's just a steel one not bladder style! And how would I just bleed the wood boiler side?

 

[Eastcoast]

Also I just bought a new circulating pump and this is my old one the impeller seems to be really hard to spin I didn't get the new one hooked up yet

 

[salecker]

what you see in the picture is not the impeller,it's the check valve.

 

[Eastcoast]

Ok do I need a check valve cause I just put my new circulating pump on it didn't come with one but someone told me it was ok to put it on without it

 

[Jeff S]

The check valve is to prevent reverse flow, you may or may not need it but I don't think that is what we are talking about anyway. If you have water in your overhead tank it would seem that your system is full. Have you been able to heat house with wood boiler alone since repairs were made ?