muddy water in radiant system?

mark_103

I was scratching my head a few week's ago.About 2 year's ago i installed my first radiant heat job! Yea. It consisted of a total of twelve zones including a boiler mate ans a little bit of baseboard. I used the "watts onyx" tubing.system worked fine and the homeowner is happy, but he called the other day and said he had a few minor leaks around the primary circulating pump and a few threaded male adaptors. I thought "no big deal", so I drained the system and fixed the leaks, but when I filled the system up and started purging it out the water had such a muddy color, I never seen anything like that before? After purging, it finally cleared up.Now they do have a well not city water and i noticed a little sand in it,but why was it so brown and thick? I'v seen alot of black water but never brown like this. Any Ideas? Mark.

Joey B_2

maybe it was just mineral build up in the boiler. Ive seen a brownish build up in toilet tanks before, especially at houses with wells its common. Probably just kicked up when you filled the system. Then again I'm a Mets fan so I could be wrong.

Al Letellier_9

muddy water

That "mud" you are seeing may be from oxydation of metals in the system. If you used off the shelf cast iron circulators and have mixed metal in the system, you have rust. Everytime you drain and purge, you will be adding oxygen and the process starts all over again. IF it gets too bad, you could see a drop in performance and heat transfer. Purge it well, cap off any vents and hope the system never needs any repairs. Had this happen on one of my first systems and it got so bad we had to install bronze pumps....learned that lesson well !!!

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ScottMP

Muddy Waters

is doing Radiant ?? Man I though he was dead ?

Ain't that a Man !

Scott

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mark_103

He is dead! and he is still screwing up my system.that mo*@#$ FU$^)% !