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OT: Hydronic Home Heating System Losing Water/Pressure Posted by B Millar [Email]  (#1109)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from B Millar) on Mon, 14 Oct 2013 08:01:04
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This is a long one, and I'll probably end up calling a pro out, but I still like to be as informed as possible before doing so.
Last year I bought a 1700 sq. ft. 2-story cape, built in 1956. It has a newer Burnham oil furnace (installed in late 2000's), and a mix of newer copper piping and the old cast iron stuff throughout the basement. They're not quite baseboard radiators, they're the knee-high ones inset in the exterior walls, generally under windows; each one has a bleeder valve about 12" up from the floor.
I can't keep the system pressurized. I use the domestic fill valve to manually pump it to around 12 psi, which is what seems to be universally recommended to get water circulating to the 2nd floor, and the system works beautifully... for about four days. Then I stop getting heat in my second floor bathroom (where I want it most on cold mornings) because it's probably last in the loop. I can keep refilling and it's fine, but if I forget, the low pressure safety switch will eventually trip and I get home to a pretty cold house. I have a Nest thermostat which I can control from my phone, but you can't do anything about the pressure safety switch remotely.
I lost enough pressure over the summer for the gauge on the furnace to read 0 psi. Where does it all go!? I have absolutely NO signs of water leaking anywhere in the system. And I even closed the ball-valve before the fill-valve over the summer, so it's not leaking back into the domestic water (ew). Service guy last year doing the annual cleaning says there is no evidence of water leaking from the coil in the furnace.
It has an automatic fill valve that says it's set to around 12 psi. Shouldn't this thing maintain the system pressure when it drops below 12? Also has a whole-house air scoop, pictured below just because I happen to have a picture of it. If I open the little valve on top, water squirts out? Shouldn't air come out? Even if the air scoop wasn't working, that wouldn't account for a 12 psi system pressure loss over the summer.
I don't know. I'm lost. I'll probably call someone before the end of the week, but if anyone has experience with these systems I'd love to hear some input. Thanks.
, Mon, 14 Oct 2013 08:01:04 <-- Viewing This Message, Tue, 15 Oct 2013 10:45:37
, Mon, 14 Oct 2013 10:54:33, Mon, 14 Oct 2013 11:28:18, Mon, 14 Oct 2013 11:16:49
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