Air elimination demo

This one has a piece of Heatway Entran tube on it! It made a great air hose.

within the air bubble is some oxygen. The o2 contacts ferrous metals and oxidizes or rusts the metal. So the more you eliminate on start up the lesser the oxidation potential

Ideally within a short period of time the 02 in a sealed system becomes consumed and corrosion stops. You have what is called “dead” water. Water that is starved of oxygen.

However Mother Nature hates imbalance, so 02 will try and continue to migrate into closed oxygen starved systems. It does this through Pex tube, yes even with oxygen barriers. Around seals and packings, valve stems, pump seals, butyl diaphragms in expansion tanks. The hotter the fluid, the higher the rate of O2 ingress.

So you want an efficient, working air separator working all the time. Because rust never sleeps.

Some hydronic installers are going all non ferrous. Stainless boiler, stainless expansion tanks, stainless or composite circulators, copper or plastic piping.

The other option is to use a hydronic conditioner that has oxygen scavengers in the blend. As these get consumed, additional inhibitor is added occasionally

Open type Outdoor wood boilers, the plain steel type, are a classic example of a system needing constant scavenger maintenance.

Additionally the air bubbles or pockets reduce the ability of the fluid to transfer the energy from the boiler and heat emitters