Bleeding

jkon · Oct 28, 2015

I have a Weil-McClain boiler single zone. The water system needs to bled because it's making noises now that I turned on the heat. My boiler man showed me how to do it once but I forget some things. Should power to my burner be on or off while bleeding. And...once I connect my hose and open the valve, will water automatically replenish the system from the pressure reducer or do I have to trip that lever on top of the pressure reducer to allow water to enter the system? How do I know how much water to flow to replenish the system? Thanks.

1212jeff · Oct 28, 2015

you should kill power and you should have a fast fill valve should be a lever you will have to open when you start draining boiler water when you get the air out close the valve and flip the lever back down that is a preset pressure

jkon · Oct 29, 2015

Thanks...yes figured it out last evening. I am all set or am I? I always seem to have to bleed the system at the start of the heating system because of too much air in the system. Not sure if that pressure regulator valve is always working to allow water into the system automatically. My boiler man says that sometimes they stick until you manually trip the lever to get the water flowing. I know he replaced that regulator valve a few years ago because it was leaking and old. He still says even a new one gets hung up now and then. When I started to bleed the system seemed like no water was flowing from the pressure regulator valve until I tripped the lever. Another thing that bothers me and him also...my pressure guage gets up to 35psi when the burner and boiler get doing their thing. Shouldn't that gauge be showing no more than 30psi so as not to trip the system's steam pressure release safety valves? It's been that way for many many years and has never tripped the safety pressure release valves. He said my gauge may be off some. What makes me possibly believe him is when I started to bleed the system and when the pressure regulator valve was finally done automatically filling the system, the pressure gauge read 18-20psi instead of around 12psi. where I believe it should have read. What do you think? I don't want those safety release valves to go off one day when the wife is home by herself. It would freak her out big time. Like I said...it's been this way for years. Could it be my gauge is off or have I just been fortunate that nothing bad has happened? I don't want to come home one day after being gone for a couple days and find water all over the place. Thanks.

frodo · Oct 29, 2015

you have 2 different pressures in your system,

when the pump is on and when the pump is off

set the water system pressure with your pump running

this will give you a true operating reading on your gauge

i have always found it easiest to bleed a single zone system by turning on the pump
and open a bleed valve on the return side of the zone. with the make up water on

let it spit and sputter till it till it gives you a flow of water with no bubbles

turn the bleed valve 3/4 of the way off. let the water run, for approx an hour

on big systems we let it run like this for 24 hours.

little bubbles get caught up in offsets. letting it run will flush them little buggers out

if your system keeps getting air in it, check for a leak when the system is off and the pipes are cold.

with pump on

jkon · Oct 29, 2015

I have town water. I have no pump.

frodo · Oct 29, 2015

jkon said:
I have town water. I have no pump.

where am I ? I am confused ?

Did you say you have a weil wcClain boiler with 1 zone that needed bleeding?

I guess I am confussd as to what is going on.

but a weil mcClane boiler has a pump to circulate the water thru the zone