Radiant Concrete Slab Problem

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snowchild

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Help!

Before you tell me to call a plumber let me explain that its not possible. There are 2 plumbing companies within 100 miles and we are blacklisted with both... it's a long story but it's pertaining to my ex husband. This was his shop before he left me, he installed it, I am 65yo and all I get when I call is a bs story about how they wont work on plumbing they didn't install ... sure.

Ok, so the boiler went out, would not start was an error code 11. Its about 8 years old and we opened the water filter knob under the tank to clean the filter. It wasn't there. So we shut the water supply off and drained the drained the boiler, took out about 1/2 gallon of what looks like muddy water, reinstalled the plug and it fired up for a short time then went back to error code 11. Its a Takagi TK4 IN. We did this a few times and it never would start so since the local A$$ plumbers would not come over we brought a new boiler, same model, installed it and it fired right up but it was making a lot of gurgling noises.

That's the limit of my knowledge. The boiler runs fine but is making a lot of noise, groaning, gurgling, temperature is 140 degrees. GPM reads anywhere from 0.5 to 3, in temp was 58, out was 64. Thermostats (3) are set at 65 and 65 and 67. I have no idea how to bleed or fill the system. The 2 gauges at the top are always reading zero. The system is closed type with 3 zones for a concrete slab of 3000sf. The red pumps at the bottom of the picture are the 3 zones, the one furthest left gurgles a lot, the middle one not so much and the right one is quiet. Also same with temperature , left is much hotter than right.

That's all I can tell you .. Can someone help please ?

takagi-tk4-in.jpg
purge-fill.jpg
 

Jadnashua

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The valve with the green handle in the middle of the picture is shown closed...were you trying to operate things that way? Can't circulate water that way.

For a boiler to work properly, it needs to be pressurized to about at least 6#, and a more common value is around 12 or so. Is that grey hose what you use to fill the system up? You need to add more water until it is in the 10-15 psi range. The device above the expansion tank looks like a SPirovent, and if not clogged up, will remove trapped air as the water is flowing past it, and eventually, if you continue to add water to keep the pressure up, should purge things. If you initially close the valve between those two valves (one has the hose on it), and open the second valve while adding water, keep doing that until you stop getting air out of the second one. You might want to put a hose on it as well, and direct it to a bucket...makes it easier to see when the air stops, and keeps you from getting water everywhere. Once you stop getting air out, close that valve and keep adding water until the pressure is within the proper range.
 

snowchild

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The valve with the green handle in the middle of the picture is shown closed...were you trying to operate things that way? Can't circulate water that way.

No, we had that valve open .. we closed it when we shut the boiler off because of the noise .. afraid it would blow up ! I will try your suggestions and report back .. Thank you very much!


IN the photo you refer to a 2nd valve .. is that the one on the right or the left ? In other words do we fill the left valve with the hose attached or the right valve that does not have a hose on it ? Which one do we put the water IN to ?
 
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Jadnashua

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If the water in the boiler loop is not pressurized, when it passes by the heater, it can boil. It is likely the water vapor from boiling that is what is making most of the noise, but the system may have air in it as well, which makes things worse.
 

snowchild

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IN the photo you refer to a 2nd valve .. is that the one on the right or the left ? In other words do we fill the left valve with the hose attached or the right valve that does not have a hose on it ? Which one do we put the water IN to ?
 

snowchild

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We filled the system and now it doesn't fire up at all. The pressure shows 10psi, there are no error codes, the input water temp is less than the output water temp, GPM is zero.. Cleaned the filter, checked we have gas, nothing. Out of ideas.

The TACO switching relay has 3 red lights lit up on zones 1-3 ... Doesn't seem right
 
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Jadnashua

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You could add water on either of those two valves. To flush out the air, if you close the valve between them, water would have to go around the entire system before it could exit from the other one. Make sure that that valve in between is opened again when done, or you will have no flow.
 

snowchild

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You could add water on either of those two valves. To flush out the air, if you close the valve between them, water would have to go around the entire system before it could exit from the other one. Make sure that that valve in between is opened again when done, or you will have no flow.


Yes we did that the first time. That's when the system stopped entirely and will not work now.
 

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NOt clear, did you run the system with that valve closed? You may have tripped an overtemp limit switch (not all have one). If you do have one, it may be able to be reset. The owner's manual should have some troubleshooting.
 

snowchild

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NOt clear, did you run the system with that valve closed? You may have tripped an overtemp limit switch (not all have one). If you do have one, it may be able to be reset. The owner's manual should have some troubleshooting.

I think it was powered up but not running. We closed the middle valve, opened up the other 2 valves. The water went into the left one and air and then water came out the right one. Then we closed the right and left and opened the middle one. Nothing happened after that
 

snowchild

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Looks like the fuse is blown. Bad news since the whole unit has to be disassembled to replace it ... ugh!
 

snowchild

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So, did a continuity test on the fusible link wire and there is none. Tried the original boiler and same issue. So, apparently before he left he let the water in the system go down to the point where it blew the fuse on the original boiler, then we brought a new boiler, installed it and of course blew that fuse too.

All of this because the local "professionals" who may not have worked on this type of boiler before but certainly have a lot more knowledge than I do, are too bloody self important to show up and take a look! What the hell happened to service in this country!

Thanks to Jim DeBruycker .. You may not be a pro but you are at least a Gentleman!
 
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