Water Heater Based Heating System Pumping Cold Air

[socal_rob]

Good Morning

This might be the wrong forum for this, but as the problem generates at the water heater, I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction...

Our two-story condo has an unusual heating system (unusual for me, anyway). It uses heat generated by the water heater to force warmed air through the vents. The water heater is in the garage and the "fireless furnace" is in the attic. The only information I have to go on is the notes taken by the home inspector (almost 9 years ago).

The problem is that when we turn the heat on, cold air is blown throughout the house. The air coming out of the vents is instantly cold, and it doesn't heat up, even when left on for over 30 minutes.

My wife remembers this happening once before, soon after she bought the place. She remembers that the home inspector (now retired and unavailable) stopped by and said that air had gotten into the pipes and they needed to drain "something," (she doesn't remember what). He quickly got the system pumping out warm/hot air again.

She thinks that he closed the drain valve, and then put a bucket under the spout to catch the water. She remembers that there wasn't too much water, but doesn't know what he did after that. Now, I can drain the pipe, but I don't know if this is what we're supposed to do, and I don't want to make matters worse. Plus, once it's drained, I don't if there are certain steps I need to follow to make sure that I don't introduce more air into the pipes when opening the drain again.

In case either of the image links don't work, I tried attaching a photo to show the water heater setup.



She also remembers that right before this happened the first time, she had friends installing her washer/dryer. They had turned off the water to do this. While they worked on the washer/dryer, my wife and another friend were unpacking in the house, and had the heat turned on. Something about having the heat on, with the water off, creates this type of situation. We recently had plumbers over, working on re-routing some copper piping in the garage, but we're unsure if we had the heating unit on when they were here.

In any case, we think we need to drain the pipe leading to the furnace unit, but we'd like some pointers if anyone is at all familiar with this type of setup. Does anyone have any advice?

Thank in advance! And thanks for taking the time to read this.

-Robert, CA

 

[johnjh2o]

Turn the valve you call the drain shout off valve is in the off passion it should be on at all times.

 

[socal_rob]

Turn the valve you call the drain shout off valve is in the off passion it should be on at all times.

It's in the upright position now. That's off? Sheesh - that shows how little I know about plumbing. So, if I push the lever 90 degrees, so it's inline with the pipe, I'd be opening the valve? No wonder there's no heat going to the furnace unit in the attic - the water's been cut off. Neither my wife nor myself touched that valve. Perhaps the plumber did when he was working on the water softener, but I can't imagine why.

I'll try that when I get home. Thank you for your help.

 

[socal_rob]

UPDATE:

Thank you, again! That was part of the problem. My wife and I both felt silly about not recognizing that the valve was actually closed. Opening it, however, didn't completely fix the problem.

We opened the valve and turned on the heater and we gave it about 15-20 minutes, but it continued to push cold air out. We then figured we'd try and drain the pipe and hopefully get any trapped air out. We closed the valve again, attached a garden hose to the spigot just passed the valve and then opened the spigot. At first, cold water emptied out, then we could hear the sputtering of trapped air being released. After that, there was a continuous flow of warm water. At that point we turned off the spigot, opened the valve again, and turned on the heater. 10 minutes later the house was warm.

I'm not quite sure how trapped air the pipes affects warm water flow to the attic furnace, but at least we now know how to fix this problem if it should ever happen again.

Thank you very much for pointing us in the right direction. We no longer have to come home to, or wake up to, a freezing home.



-Rob

 

[KULTULZ]

UPDATE:

Thank you, again! That was part of the problem. My wife and I both felt silly about not recognizing that the valve was actually closed. Opening it, however, didn't completely fix the problem.

We opened the valve and turned on the heater and we gave it about 15-20 minutes, but it continued to push cold air out. We then figured we'd try and drain the pipe and hopefully get any trapped air out. We closed the valve again, attached a garden hose to the spigot just passed the valve and then opened the spigot. At first, cold water emptied out, then we could hear the sputtering of trapped air being released. After that, there was a continuous flow of warm water. At that point we turned off the spigot, opened the valve again, and turned on the heater. 10 minutes later the house was warm.

I'm not quite sure how trapped air the pipes affects warm water flow to the attic furnace, but at least we now know how to fix this problem if it should ever happen again.

-Rob

I am a$$-u-me(ing) that the hot water outlet shown supplies hot water to an air handler in this example located in the attic with a return line to the WH.

Shouldn't there be an automatic air escape (bleeder) valve @ the air handler to expel trapped air in the system? If the poster drained the outgoing (supply) line and the water drained from that line and then refilled, wouldn't there still be air trapped in the system?

Confused in W (By GOD) V...

 

[johnjh2o]

What he did was purge the system. It's one continuous loop. There may be a vent on the coil but purging is faster easier and more effective.

 

[KULTULZ]

What he did was purge the system. It's one continuous loop. There may be a vent on the coil but purging is faster easier and more effective.

THANX! for the explanation...