i repaired a broken heating water pipe. how do i bleed my oil fired system it is base board heat
You should have a small valve at each radiator location. Depending upon your valve you will need a small key designed to fit the part you turn. Follow the system in order of the radiators and open each valve one at a time. You will usually get a hissing sound as the air escapes...you may also hear gurgling of water at this time. When you get a steady stream of water only, then you can close the valve and move on to the next radiator. When you complete the cycle, you can try to bleed the highest radiator again. I take a small cup with me to catch the water, as I usually get about that much after three radiators. Another thing you will need to do is make sure your expansion tank is not waterlogged. If this is an old system, it will be in the highest point of the system. There should be two valves to drain the tank. First close the valve that is connected to the loop of hot water pipe. Then, open up the drain valve to the tank. Depending upon how much water is in the tank, it may take a while to drain it. When water has stoppedd flowing from the tank, reverse the process by closing the drain line, and then re-opening the valve that is connected to the loop. You will hear water rush into the tank, that is ok. when this is completed you should then go around and bleed each radiator. Sometime, as you bleed the radiator, the pressure drops in the system, and you will get nothing coming out of the radiator...try again later when the pressure is again up to operating pressure. When the boiler has been on for a while, you will probably get best results on bleeding. We replaced are boiler two years ago, so the expansion tank is at the boiler location, plus we installed an in line bleeder at the boiler. We rarely bleed the system anymore.
there are bleeder screws on the base boards
Dr. Feelgood is pretty close. But if you have a closed loop system, there are no bleeders. In that case, you bleed the entire system at the boiler. There should be a faucet for each zone. Attach a hose to the faucet and run it outdoors,or into a drain. Let it run for a good long time,15-20 minutes or so. That will get rid of most of the air.any remaining air will be expelled by the automatic air bleeder.
