Small Radiant heat system - Does this look right

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ssweb

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Howdy all,

I have been in the process of installing a Three loop radiant heating system in my basement. I am about to load it with water and have some thoughts before I do.

So I got this manifold from a supplier and took some of it apart. I also added the pressure gauge and now am not fully sure I have part of it set up correctly.

Pre-quantifications and what I have been told so far

1. The Pressure gauge should be on the bottom left as I have it.​

Questions;

1. Notice there are two air eliminators on the top half. The one on the left, I am confident should be there the one on the right was on the lower section where the Pressure Gauge is.

Do I need both of them?

2. I filled the system with air to 20 psi (Both air caps on the air eliminators are tight) I seem to have an slow air leak. The 20 PSI has not fully leaked out in the past 24 hours but is down to about 4 psi. I have tighten all and leak tested with water and a little soap. I did not see any leaks.

Does the soapy water need to be lot of soap?
Do I need to worry about the leak

3. I had started to fill with a little water. As I did the water came out of the air eliminator when I open the cap.

Will this not leak once I have the full system set with water?

4. There is a Thermostat on the top which has a sensor in the bottom area. It has a split nut to allow the cable to be set. It leaked a little when I had the water in it.

What is the normal process to keep it from leaking? Is it a matter I need tweak it more?

I appreciate your patience with my long note and hope you can help.

In the meantime Merry Christmas to all.

20161223_174038.jpg
 

Jadnashua

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Can't answer all of your questions, but keep in mind that the air pressure will change with temperature changes. You might want to leave it a bit longer to see if the pressure continues to drop. If it does, you need to find it. The air eliminator might be the leak. Can you use the soapy solution and blow a bubble with it? It doesn't need a huge amount of soap in it, but it does need enough. WOrst case, you can buy some in a bottle, or pick up some for kids to blow bubbles with.

The air eliminator won't fully seal until the water level is up and the float presses the seal tight. Some operate in a different manner, but I think they type you have will leak until it sees actual water pressure.
 

ssweb

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Why is this set up with two mixing valves and where did you learn of this design??
I assume you are indicating the two white knobs, one the top and bottom. This is a design as setup by the vendor I purchased the manifold from. It was purchased as a single unit
 

ssweb

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So I did find
a leak at the air pressure gauge.

I also did not like the idea of the two Air Eliminators on the same line. I have since removed the one on the far left and set in the bottom right where I had the Pressure gauge.

At this point I can fill the system with water and get it to flow around the system.

However when the system shutdown due to getting to reaching the set temperature in the room the Air Eliminator releases a lot of water and will not stop.

What could it be that is making this happen and not allowing the float to seat.

For the record this setup is from a manufacture ICMA. They are from Italy and I purchased this from a US supplier. (They have been very helpful but I want to get some other opinions on this.)

http://www.icmaspa.it/
 

Jadnashua

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Do you have an expansion tank in the radiant system? One is required.
 

ssweb

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There is an expansion tank in the heating system it self. I have attached a wider view of the whole system.

Note, I have removed the pressure gauge and added an air eliminator in it place. This was after I had the continue leakage of water.
 

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