baseboard heating

KevinCorr

These are AMAZING! So efficient. I used to have to purge the return loops back in the boiler room. With this Spirovent type you don''t have to do that anymore. The system will self vent with no labor from you. One of the best improvements ever! (Like extrol tanks, little circulators, tiger loop etc)

Yes there are competing brands, I think Honeywell, Sparco, and others, including Taco as stated.

eli_4

baseboard heating air venting

i have baseboard heating running throughout my house and each winter i have to bleed the system 2 or 3 times. i was thinking of putting in a radiator in some of the bedrooms instead of the baseboard (that is there now). or is there some type of air vent i can put (on top of a nipple which would be on top of a T) somewhere at the end of the baseboards in these bedrooms. Thank you.

kpc_75

sounds like...

a piping issue. A spirovent may help of a boiler repipe to piping away set up.

KevinCorr

yes, a spirovent near the boiler is much better than in the room.
Once the air is out, it stays out unless you add water.
I suspect that if you keep getting air, you may have some leakage somewhere and new water is being introduced.
You can do a pressure test or start by simply turning off the water make up to the boiler and keep an eye on the pressure.

Unknown

no spirovent needed

No spirovent is needed if its a weil mclain boiler with built in air scoop and pumping away from tank. Been doing this ever since Dan's had the article out in PM magizine and no problems with the system unless, there's a leak.. That's a different story.

Jean-David Beyer

spirovent

"No spirovent is needed if its a weil mclain boiler with built in air scoop and pumping away from tank."

From what I read, pumping away from the expansion tank is very important.

But also from what I read, air elimination should be more effective than what an air scoop provides. That is why Spirovents (and the Taco VorTech® & 4900 Series Air Separators) are around; to remove microbubbles and dissolved oxygen in addition to the bubbles large enough to remove with a simple air scoop.

Are these allegedly better air eliminators really a rip off? Or do they fill an actual need?

Unknown

rjbphd (Ray)

Mentions "no spirovent needed",, and that`s very true if the water velocity from the pump(s) doesn`t override the "wing" the manufacturer provides as built-in air-elimination.

Personally, I would opt for a Spirovent. Sorry Ray. ;-)

Dave

Jean-David Beyer

One of the best improvements ever!

That is nice to hear, since I have a B&G HFT-30 diaphragm expansion tank, four little circulators (Taco 007s, three of the IFC type), and a Taco 49-125 Pawl Ring type air separator.

The new devices are a lot better from the user's point of view, because there seems to be less fiddling around required. The new boiler has a pressure relief valve and a low water shutoff gizmo too, that the old one did not. Hardly new inventions. Did they have inspectors in the early 1950s?

Unknown

Did they have inspectors in the early 1950s?

Your kidding right?
Is there one even today?

Dave

Jean-David Beyer

Inspectors.

I have had a lot of work done around my house, and in my town you need a permit for almost everything, even putting on vinyl siding or replacing the windows.

A few of them seemed to know what they were doing. Others did not check much. One was a pain between the back pockets who failed the preliminary inspection because the electrician ran 24 volt wiring through the wall for some 24 volt lights (under the upper cabinets). He cited chapter and verse of the electric code, saying you could not run 24 volts through walls. That would rule out doorbells, telephones, as well as 24 volt lights. After he left, the electrician pulled out his copy of the electric code, turned to that chapter and verse, and it had nothing to do with low voltage wiring. The electrician ripped out all the 24 volt wiring, removed the step-down transformer, and put all 120 volt wiring and 120 volt lights. I asked why he did not appeal the decision. He explained that he probably would not win an appeal, and if he did, he would never get another job approved in my town.

For the heating, there were a gas inspector, a plumbing inspector, and electrical inspector, and a safety inspector. I thought the plumbing guy might comment on the fact that the condensate drain from my mod/con boiler just came out a 2" PVC pipe and dribbled on the ground. There were other options for the condensate, but none were any good. There was no drain anywhere near. They could dig a dry well and use that, but it was not clear that the code permitted that either. They thought it would be legal to run a large-diameter PVC pipe to the sewer line, perhaps with a neutralizer, but the pipe would have blocked my door from the kitchen to the outside, so no one was interested in doing that.

But the inspector never asked or looked at where that PVC pipe went that disappeared through my outside wall.

But the original installation from 55 years ago! No pressure relief valve, no air separator, no low water detection. I cannot believe it was ever legal in the 20th century to have a boiler with 70,000 BTU/hr input to be operated without a pressure relief valve. Even my new indirect hot water heater has a P/T relief valve on it.

JackHoseman

venting baseboard

most baseboard systems have a purge valve set up to vent all the different runs right next to the boiler . then you set the press reducing valve to the proper cold static press. for the height of the top radiation + 2 or 3# and you're set. no manual venting neccesary . or have things changed since i learned this at B & G little red schoolhouse in the stone ages??????...........old timer Jack

KevinCorr

vent

With the new style boiler vent you need to purge much less, if at all. Convenient. Also continues to eliminate air in the long run much more effectively than the old ones.

That is especially convenient in frozen areas where you have anti-freeze that you don't want to waste or dilute.