2007-05-30 05:37:19 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
I have hot water baseboard heat in my house and recently had this problem. If you are lucky, when the folks that put it in installed the pipe around the room they installed an air escape valve somewhere on the run. It will be easy to find. Just look into the register and follow the pipe until you find something other than the smooth pipe or the aluminium register coils. There are three or four different types of air escape valves. One that looks like that thing on a tire that you just press and the air escapes. One that had a nipple and you just use a screwdriver and loosen the screw and air and water squirt out the nipple into a bucket. One that has a silver lever that you press down or pull up and the air will escape. And one that you have to unscrew a cap and it will open up and make a hell of a mess (hope you don't have this type). All of these are usually placed either on a corner or at the beginning of a straight run of pipe.
You can try and let the air escape at the furnace but it often doesn't work well because it's a closed system and the water won't fill the pipe and push the air out especially if it's on the 2nd floor. Something that may help is to find where the return line is that brings the cold water back to the furnace. Someplace on that line is usually a vale or spigot (just like you put your garden hose on) and you can attach a hose to it and run it out the window or into a bucket and open it up and it will create a vaccume that will allow the water to push the air out of the line. If you can, single out the line that has the air in it and close the valves to all the other lines that dump into the return line. That way, you are just evacuating the water and air from that one line and not letting water run out from all the other lines in the house.
I was doing some renovation work on my house that has this type of heat and we drained the one line and had a helluva time getting that air out of the line. We had to keep unscrewing that cap on the valve they installed and water would go all over the place and then go down into the basment and open up the spigot valve and push some of the air and water out of the system, it took almost 2 hours to get it straightened out. After that experience, I renovated another room on the same stretch of pipe and put in an air escape valve (nipple type w/ screw relase mechanism) and it took about 20 minutes, a bucket and screwdriver and I was done. If you have this problem a lot, it's well worth it to pay a plumber $50 to put one of these valves in to save you the hassle. Hope this helps!
2007-05-30 06:31:05 · answer #1 · answered by Mike T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At the furnace. Find the hot water line exiting the furnace. It'll be the one that makes you say OUCH when you touch it. On that line you will a cap like on a tire covering a valve just like the air valve on a tire. Get a bucket and place below the valve. Remove the cap and with a long thin object, like a nail, press on the center of the valve. If there is air in the line you'll hear it hissing, then it'll spit a little before it squirts and begins to scald you. Thats a sign that you have purged the air out. But, you need to find out how the air got in there or this will be an ongoing task with rust resulting in your heating system.
2007-05-30 05:52:52 · answer #2 · answered by Dogbettor 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A properly installed system will have bleed valves at each baseboard. These either open with a handle/key or have Schrader valves like a tire.
2007-05-30 06:20:54 · answer #3 · answered by sensible_man 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
not sure if your system can work with this, but we use pressure air at one end and blow the pipes high and dry.
2007-05-30 06:52:34 · answer #4 · answered by rockystartz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋