Draining water from baseboard pipes

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GG_Mass

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Hi,
The water in the baseboard in my 3 season porch are frozen. I need to remove and replace the broken pipe by de-soldering, but, the pipes still have water in them. I'm pretty sure I found the draining taps downstairs, but would prefer to ask first before going ahead and removing the water from the baseboards.

1. Are those the right valves to open ?
2. Should the heating system, once restored, fill up water in the baseboards without any help/intervention from my side.
Thanks.
 

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Dana

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Hi,
The water in the baseboard in my 3 season porch are frozen. I need to remove and replace the broken pipe by de-soldering, but, the pipes still have water in them. I'm pretty sure I found the draining taps downstairs, but would prefer to ask first before going ahead and removing the water from the baseboards.

1. Are those the right valves to open ?
2. Should the heating system, once restored, fill up water in the baseboards without any help/intervention from my side.
Thanks.

Those valves would likely drain the whole system, which isn't necessarily what you want to do. Ideally you'd be able to isolate the section of frozen/leaking pipe with valves somewhere, then just cut the leaking/broken section out with a tubing cutter (or hacksaw, if you can't get the tubing cutter in there, solder in a repair section with new couplings, then purge the air with the bleeder valves before re-starting the system.
 

GG_Mass

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Those valves would likely drain the whole system, which isn't necessarily what you want to do. Ideally you'd be able to isolate the section of frozen/leaking pipe with valves somewhere, then just cut the leaking/broken section out with a tubing cutter (or hacksaw, if you can't get the tubing cutter in there, solder in a repair section with new couplings, then purge the air with the bleeder valves before re-starting the system.

Thanks, that's very close to what I did. In my case, I had no isolation valves for that room, so I needed to close off the water supply for the entire system.
I removed the baseboard pipe, cut out the burst area and soldered in a new pieced of pipe.

My current problem is that some baseboards will not heat up. I assume it is due to air in the pipes.
Should I have a main bleeder valve for the entire system ? that's a great detail to know, because, up until late last night I was bleeding each baseboard individually, and it's not easy - bad access for each baseboard's bleeding screw/valve, and I'm only half way through.

How can I find if I have a main bleeder valve for the entire system ?
 

Dana

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There is often a bleeder valve on every radiator, but if not there should at least be a bleeder somewhere at the highest elevation point on any system. If not, you may have to purge most of the air by hooking a hose up to one of the valves near the boiler and run water through the system until the system is purged. You may or may not have a system vent near the boiler (often it's an air-scoop with a vent on one side, the expansion tank on the other), or a vent somewhere near the top of the system that traps & vents bubbles.



22982d1387050916-fitting-upgrades-additions-old-cast-iron-rad-hydronic-system-img_1565.jpg
 

GG_Mass

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There is often a bleeder valve on every radiator, but if not there should at least be a bleeder somewhere at the highest elevation point on any system. If not, you may have to purge most of the air by hooking a hose up to one of the valves near the boiler and run water through the system until the system is purged. You may or may not have a system vent near the boiler (often it's an air-scoop with a vent on one side, the expansion tank on the other), or a vent somewhere near the top of the system that traps & vents bubbles.



22982d1387050916-fitting-upgrades-additions-old-cast-iron-rad-hydronic-system-img_1565.jpg

I have a bleeder valve on each baseboard, but the idea for having just one bleeder for the whole system sounds a lot easier to handle.
I do have an expansion tank with a red and black nobs on it. Should I be touching the red or the black ? (or both) ?
 
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