Hi and great site.

Okay, my situation is this. I live in a 1929 house - 2 story. I decided that I wanted to remodel my tub room and add a shower to the existing tub. I am also replacing the sink in that room (toilet is in another room across the hall).

Anyway - to put in a tile floor - I had to replace some shoddy repair job that a previous owner did. I removed the cast iron heat register. I called out a company to do it and he installed a tap on my boiler to hook up a hose to and we ran it to a sewer drain in the basement beside the boiler.

We didn't shut the boiler off - just kept the thermostat at that lowest level. Well - now I am almost ready to put the register back on and would like to know what I need to do?

When we drained it - we opened up all the bleeders on the registers on my second floor (6 registers).

What do I need to do now to refill my boiler - do I go and close all the bleed screws and then find out what valve I have to open to refill the boiler and open it? I would assume that once my registers are hooked back up - I leave that valve open? Would it be the one that leads to the small tank on top of the boiler?

I am hoping that I don't have to call them back because the guy charged me $150 for about 20 mins work to drain the system. We didn't touch any of the registers on the main floor.

It is a hot water system.

If I need to provide more info - please let me know.

Thanks in advance.
Mike.

 

That's step one.

Yes, leave it open.

Perhaps. It will be a valve that eventually connects to the domestic water system in the house. There may be several intervening valves and there should be a "pressure reducing valve" (PRV) close to the connection to the heating system.

You will also need to bleed the air from the "registers" (this term is more often used with forced air systems) through the air vents. Bleeding this air may entail doing so when you first refill the system and also after running the circulator pump and also heating the system.

Some pictures of your boiler and piping will help us to help you.

To post pictures you need to first upload the pictures to a photo hosting site such as photobucket.com or villagephotos.com. and then post the public URLs for the pictures (or album) here. More pictures are always better than fewer. Please have CLEAR pictures and have both close up pictures and ones from a far enough distance that we can see how the various parts are interconnected.

 

Okay - here are the pics of my boiler. I have had the water valve open all day and have been bleeding the individual rads all day as well and - well NOTHING has happened yet. Is there something that the service guy may have shut off when he drained it down a bit?

PS: Today - i had to replace a valve and when I removed it - water shot ALL OVER the place and I would assume - pretty much emptied my boiler as well.

Any help would be appreciated.





This is the valve assembly that I replaced today because it was leaking from around the handle when turned on (surprisingly cheap for all the parts).




I assume that this is the pressure reducing valve. Do all 3 of the other valves have to be open and do they stay open all the time?









This setup has a loop which includes the 3 valves and the pressure reducing valve.




Any help you can provide would be appreciated as it is getting chilly in the house - LOL.

Mike.

 

Anything is possible. I cannot see the entire system with the pictures you have posted. Can you take pictures that give more of a general view of the entire boiler and system?

It appears that you have BOTH an Amtrol expansion tank AND a Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) on your system. I am not that familiar with the Amtrol system but I don't think that you should have both.

 

Mike, the pictures don't 'connect' the pipes for us... what I _think_ I see is the water feed comes in from the top, turns to the left where there is a tee fitting. Continuing to the left, there is a valve, and from that first tee down is a pipe with another valve.

Back to the left, that valve leads down to the pressure reducing valve. Then, there is another valve after the reducing valve, and then the pipe with the CLOSED valve comes down and joins in another tee.

Is that right ? I suggest pulling back with the camera and getting a pic that shows how those pipes are connected.

Anyway... if I'm right about how it's hooked up, that vertical pipe with the CLOSED valve is a FAST FILL BYPASS, and that valve should normally be CLOSED (as it is now). The other two valves would normally be OPEN, the ones up and downstream of the reducing valve.

If/when you open that closed valve, you will get full city water flow and pressure into the boiler, to be used ONLY when you need to fill the system, and being very careful about not overpressurizing the boiler system.

The Amtrol thingy that furd was talking about in the second picture... is that red handle valve open or closed ? If that IS a FILLTROL system, furd is correct that you don't need or want both. It's possible that Filltrol was leaking through at some point and someone installed the other reducing valve upstream. Take a tire pressure gauge and tell us how much air pressure is in the expansion tank. There is a plastic cap on the left hand end (opposite the system connection) that has a tire valve on it. There should be 12 PSI in that tank. If the pressure in that tank is very low, you won't get any water through that valve. IF it's a FILLTROL... see if there is any writing on it... tell us what the label on the expansion tank says. If someone replaced that expansion tank with a 'non' filltrol tank, you won't get any water through. The filltrol tanks are 'special'... they have a plunger in them that operates the fill valve. If the tank was replaced with a standard tank, there will be no plunger to operate the fill valve. IF it's a FILLTROL.

In the first pic, that relief valve should be installed vertically, with an elbow down on the outlet. Agree furd ?

In the third pic, what on earth is that big ole cast iron thing the pipes are welded onto ? I'd like to see more, wider angle pics please.

 

Okay - here are more pics. Just an update - I have found a switch up HIGH on the rafter above the boiler (in a couple of the pics you can see the switch - probably same age as the house which is 1929). I turned the switch on this AM after bleeding most of the radiators and I heard the boiler start up with its flames. I now have heat but would like to make sure that I haven't done anything wrong to pooch the thing (got a quote to upgrade to high efficiency and it was OVER $20,000 so dont want that right now).

Anyway - here are the 'broad' pics - not much room to work with down there.













NJ Trooper - that big old cast thing is part of the original system I think. I had the asbestos removed from my pipes there as well. I was told that the boiler I currently have is probably from the 1950's possibly early 60s.

Hope the photos help get a better view.

All the valves at the top of the boiler form a loop and that one COULD be a quick fill. I have turned that one back off now that the system is pretty much filled. Must say - it is the perfect time to get some heat - they are forecasting up to 25 cms (that would be 10 inches for my US friends ) starting today and continuing into tomorrow.

Thanks again for the help guys.

Mike.