Spirovent problems

[Alternety]

I have several Spirovent units in my heating system. They are generally leaking water from the vent. One unit is spitting out a great deal of water. It is positioned directly over the boiler and the associated wiring. It originally had a cap on the vent to "fix" that, which of course made it useless. But it was removed by a contractor. Should have had a pipe/tube going to a drain. Nasty. Boiler is seriously we inside.

I believe the device is the SPIROVENT JUNIOR AIR ELIMINATOR/DIRT SEPARATOR. While looking at that device, and following the piping, it seems that it is also installed improperly. What is noted as a dirt separator drain port is connected to the input for make-up water and the small pressure tank for the system. It just keeps getting better.

Two questions.

Can the Spirovent units be refurbished? I have seen pictures of thoroughly rotted internal components.

Is there a better device that I should use to replace the Spirovents? Maybe with internals that do not dissolve in water.​

 

[Jadnashua]

You can buy the internal parts of the things, essentially, there are two:
- a SS comb that traps bubbles
- the cap which has the float and exhaust valve

You might be able to refurb what you have by removing the cap assembly, then soaking it in something like CLR for awhile. If the comb is covered in minerals, the CLR could refurb that, too. How long that takes verses replacing with new parts, would depend on their actual initial condition.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dana]

Replacing or repairing them without correcting the installation errors could be a waste of time.

It's unusual to have several of them installed on a system. It's typically one, mounted near the intake side of the primary pump and expansion tank, and sometimes another vent (not a dirt collector) mounted near the highest elevation of the system.

Ideally an air eliminator would have at least ten pipe diameters of straight pipe ahead of where the water enters, to lower the turbulence experienced at the air eliminator, which allows it to function better. It's better still if that section of pipe leading into the air separator is larger in diameter than the rest of the loop so that the water velocity is lower at the air separator giving the bubbles more time to separate and become trapped.

It's common for the make up water to enter at the air separator and expansion tank, but not if it's blocking the dirt drain, but not essential. The filler can really go almost anywhere on the system, as long as the entering water isn't going directly into the intake side of the boiler. From the point of view of thermally stressing the boiler it's somewhat better to have it enter near the intake side of a pump that would send some or all of it to the radiation, rather than a slug of very cold water directly into a potentially hot boiler.

Photographs of the Spirovent installation(s) might be useful here.

 

[Alternety]

It is not a dirt collector. I got confused by the various pictures.

The number of vents installed is what it is. They are located at various high points in the piping. Not going to change them. Repiping to move the Spirovents in not practical. I am going to attach a PVC pipe to each to the Spirovents that goes to a drain. The Spirovents' output is configured to take a standard PVC fitting.

I thought I saw a post that said the Spirovent unit could not be dissembled and repaired.

What is the optimal solution?

 

[Jadnashua]

Assuming you have a Spirovent Jr, these two replacement parts are readily available (note, the thing has a 20-year warranty).

 

[Alternety]

Thanks.

 

[Jack Gross]

Hi, I have a Spirovent on my boiler and I need to replace the top but I can't seem to get the old one off. I called Spirotherm and they said just keep trying but I am not having a luck.

Does anyone have any pointers on this? Do I need to remove it from the piping and put it in a vise(that is what the woman at Spirotherm told me they do to take them apart)

Thanks in advance

 

[Fitter30]

While pushing on your wrench take a hammer smack the wrench near the head. That jolt usually do it.