Fraser Jim
New Member
Happy Thanksgiving
We built our retirement home 5 years ago. Use on weekends. In Colorado - gets to 20-30 below during winter.
Plumbing company totally incompetent. Leaks, Wrong valves, toilets not seated, stuter vents leaking, shower valves clogged, etc.
Two stories. No bsmt.
Buderus G234X-38 Boiler
First floor about 1,900 sq. ft, 5-radiant heat zones
Second floor about 700 sq. ft, 2-baseboard heat zones
Domestic Hot Water on boiler
Highlights of plumber's screw-ups:
One two loop RH zone didn't work. Plumber insisted that there was air trapped and he hooked up external pump to pump into return of zone and force air out of supply side. After three attemps, no better. I looked and saw that there was no shutoff between supply and return manifolds. I asked why and he said that it wasn't in plans. I said that I didn't see how he could pump through zone if the two manifolds weren't isolated. The next week there was a shutoff. GC found that the plumber had hooked up one loop of the zone to the supply side and the other loop to the return.
Once we moved in, I noticed that the boiler was always firing during hte summer. I traced wires and found that the plumber had miswired one of the Taco Relays and it was always calling for heat.
More information.
Taco AAVs above expansion tank and on DHW tank. Spirovent vent on supply manifold on input to radiant circ. pump.
Watts 174A M3 relief valve 30psi
Watts auto fill - I have this shutoff
Amtrol Radiant Extrol RX30 tank
Wirsbo hePEX 3/4" and 1/2" tubing
I have 4 pressure gauges installed because of problems. 1. on boiler 2. on supply line between boiler and expansion tank 3. On rad. heat supply manifold after circ. pump 4. on baseboard supply side after its circ,. pump.
Problems:
1. Up till this year, we would come in and pressure relief valve pipe would be seeping. Plumber has replaced PRV and Expansion tank three times. I have never seen pressure over 23psi on any gauge. Seems to be ok when we are in home and keeping temps. about 68. Seems to be a problem after we come in after a week and system temps in 50s and we turn on heat. It would vent after about an hour after we turned up heat.
Plumber didn't record how much tubing he used, so we are guessing at capacity of system, but others say tank size is ok. Also, he didn't know how much glycol he put in system.
What should the range of pressure be on system when system is off (summer)? last year was about 5psi, this year about 2psi
What should pressure be when everything is on? Last year about 23psi, this year 21psi.
If the system has been off and we turn on heat and it is about 8-9 psi, it will climb to about 16psi in 10 minutes.
2. About two years ago heard gurguling sound from mech. room. Looked in and the Spirovent and Taco AAV on DWH were spewing glycol. Enough came out of DWH that it filled up well for thermocouple. Shutoff system and let sit. Restarted and everything seemed ok. There was black flecks in glycol that looked like coarse ground pepper. Seems fine since then.
Plumber said to keep the AAVs shut and occasionally open. I open about once a week and they will hiss for about a second.
Should they be venting air after two years??? Should they be left open??? I am concerned that if we are not here, whole system may vent.
3. Checked out second floor baseboard and saw no AAVs. I baseboard zone ticks when turned on. How are you supposed to purge air out of baseboard? Do you need to?
I guess the most important question is what should be pressure ranges from cold to hot on system.
Thanks
Fraser Jim
We built our retirement home 5 years ago. Use on weekends. In Colorado - gets to 20-30 below during winter.
Plumbing company totally incompetent. Leaks, Wrong valves, toilets not seated, stuter vents leaking, shower valves clogged, etc.
Two stories. No bsmt.
Buderus G234X-38 Boiler
First floor about 1,900 sq. ft, 5-radiant heat zones
Second floor about 700 sq. ft, 2-baseboard heat zones
Domestic Hot Water on boiler
Highlights of plumber's screw-ups:
One two loop RH zone didn't work. Plumber insisted that there was air trapped and he hooked up external pump to pump into return of zone and force air out of supply side. After three attemps, no better. I looked and saw that there was no shutoff between supply and return manifolds. I asked why and he said that it wasn't in plans. I said that I didn't see how he could pump through zone if the two manifolds weren't isolated. The next week there was a shutoff. GC found that the plumber had hooked up one loop of the zone to the supply side and the other loop to the return.
Once we moved in, I noticed that the boiler was always firing during hte summer. I traced wires and found that the plumber had miswired one of the Taco Relays and it was always calling for heat.
More information.
Taco AAVs above expansion tank and on DHW tank. Spirovent vent on supply manifold on input to radiant circ. pump.
Watts 174A M3 relief valve 30psi
Watts auto fill - I have this shutoff
Amtrol Radiant Extrol RX30 tank
Wirsbo hePEX 3/4" and 1/2" tubing
I have 4 pressure gauges installed because of problems. 1. on boiler 2. on supply line between boiler and expansion tank 3. On rad. heat supply manifold after circ. pump 4. on baseboard supply side after its circ,. pump.
Problems:
1. Up till this year, we would come in and pressure relief valve pipe would be seeping. Plumber has replaced PRV and Expansion tank three times. I have never seen pressure over 23psi on any gauge. Seems to be ok when we are in home and keeping temps. about 68. Seems to be a problem after we come in after a week and system temps in 50s and we turn on heat. It would vent after about an hour after we turned up heat.
Plumber didn't record how much tubing he used, so we are guessing at capacity of system, but others say tank size is ok. Also, he didn't know how much glycol he put in system.
What should the range of pressure be on system when system is off (summer)? last year was about 5psi, this year about 2psi
What should pressure be when everything is on? Last year about 23psi, this year 21psi.
If the system has been off and we turn on heat and it is about 8-9 psi, it will climb to about 16psi in 10 minutes.
2. About two years ago heard gurguling sound from mech. room. Looked in and the Spirovent and Taco AAV on DWH were spewing glycol. Enough came out of DWH that it filled up well for thermocouple. Shutoff system and let sit. Restarted and everything seemed ok. There was black flecks in glycol that looked like coarse ground pepper. Seems fine since then.
Plumber said to keep the AAVs shut and occasionally open. I open about once a week and they will hiss for about a second.
Should they be venting air after two years??? Should they be left open??? I am concerned that if we are not here, whole system may vent.
3. Checked out second floor baseboard and saw no AAVs. I baseboard zone ticks when turned on. How are you supposed to purge air out of baseboard? Do you need to?
I guess the most important question is what should be pressure ranges from cold to hot on system.
Thanks
Fraser Jim