Automatic air vent installation detail

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Intellectual Property Privacy Policy. Log in. TIP 1: Install your automatic air vent coming on a riser nipple on the remote end of a main.

Mains contain most of the trapped air volume in a system. TIP 2: When the gauge is in the yellow area, the vent requires attention. If the gauge needle is anywhere in the yellow area of the gauge dial; this means the primary float has failed and pressure is on the secondary float. Vent requires attention! Isolate the ball valve to the closed position when servicing ; you can repair or replace the vent without having to drain the entire system.

No unions or wrenching required. If pressure ever enters the 2 nd float chamber it will trigger the pressure switch to send a supervisory signal to the remote monitoring station or BMS. End of line resistor for install. Note: If the client has a Siemens, or Simplex fire panel; programming is proprietary.

Get a quote to program 1 supervised monitoring input. There are hidden costs that can easily get missed when quoting these types of vents as a repair or install in an existing building. Other Choices on the Market: We firmly believe that an air vent with a double float redundancy is the best option to remove most of the air in a sprinkler system.

Ball Valve with a screen Cheapest option on the market for venting a sprinkler system that meets code. No secondary float option as a failsafe, and single float designs are commonly piped to a drain somewhere on the system. Drain pipe in certain environments can be broken by heavy equipment or other processes, creating a leak risk. What is the contractor risk? That's why you'll usually find an air bleed in that location. See our page top photo.

Finally, if you take the annoying plumber's view, you can eschew any air bleeders and instead, wait until the system is air bound and you've lost heat. Then one can, using boiler drain and feed fittings, force higher pressure through the system to try to blow air out of those uppermost heating baseboards. Of course that' a heck of a lot more trouble than just loosening a bleeder valve screw and letting the air hiss out at the high point s in the system. If the bleeder valve is completely blocked with debris it might be possible to open it up by completely removing the center screw, but as I warn in a companion article.

Watch out : if replacing an entire air bleed valve or even if just removing its inner screw, the task is safer and less messy if performed when the heating system water is cool or cold. I would prefer to just show up with the replacement part in hand to do the whole job at once. Just sayin'. To install a new air bleed valve into an existing threaded opening on a radiator or baseboard tee we do not have to disassemble it, but we should use a thread sealant. I prefer teflon tape or teflon paste.

Wrap the teflon tape onto the threaded portion of the bleeder valve as I show at above left. I am turning the valve in the clockwise or "screw-in" direction. This will wrap the teflon tape in the right direction onto the treaded valve base. At above and in detail below you can see the finished result - sort-of.

If an idiot installs the bleeder valve with its inlet opening blocked by teflon tape below left the valve will not work. Below you can see that I have cleaned off the excess teflon tape that would have blocked the air bleed valve inlet opening. For the photos shown here I used new parts at a workbench.

But in the field may be installing this air bleeder into a pre-existing tapped opening, probably working in the dark, upside down, in a cold, tight crawl space, alone, maybe with the company of spiders and snakes - which is no place for an air bleeder that should be easy to access if it is to ever be used.

Watch out : For automatic or float type air bleed valves, the replacement procedure is essentially the same as shown here. Take off the old valve, seal the threads on the new bleeder valve, and screw it in place. But take care not to use the float body itself to screw the float bleeder valve into position - you may break it.

Watch out : for automatic and some manual air vents to work properly the vent or valve has to be installed in a location that will receive air in the water piping system, radiator, or other device, has to be installed in the proper position some vents like the Sparco air purger and the Taco Air Vent work properly only in the upright position , and the pressure in the heating or cooling water system must be higher than atmospheric pressure.

Otherwise when the vent or valve is opened air may enter the piping system rather than being purged from it. Watch out : when installing canister type air eliminators or air purge valves such as all of the float type valves, do not try to screw the valve body tightly into the receiving plumbing tapping by using a tool to torque or twist the valve body - you will most likely damage or ruin the valve.

I have hot water heating and at the point farthest from my furnace is a Taco air vent. About that vent, I'm pretty sure that's a conventional float-type air vent; if so it can't work properly for long in that position - since the floats depend on gravity and on air moving to the float top to work properly. There are, of course, other types of air bleeder vents that can be installed horizontally, including some shown earlier in this article.

I'd bet that the valve stem cap on the float type air vent in your photo above left is screwed shut - or if it's not, and if it was not leaking, the orifice may have been clogged by mineral deposits and heating water debris. Our photo at left shows a typical float type automatic air bleeder valve on a hydronic heating system.

It is installed upright, and [click to enlarge] you can see the warning tag about leaving the cap loose if the float vent is to actually release air from the heating system.

There are some hydronic heating system auto vents such as the Maid-O-Misty No. You can get a clue about whether or not the air vent is intended to be mounted horizontally or vertically just by looking at it, though reading the installation instructions is really more sensible. Taking a look at the product specification sheets for Taco's float type automatic air vents such as the Taco shown at above left, as well as having disassembled a few of them myself makes clear that for proper operation the device depends on free movement of a float-operated vent valve inside the device.

The high-capacity, float-style vent can be placed either on the boiler or at the high points throughout the system. Vents are easily serviceable, if needed, by simply unscrewing the vent cap. The service check screws onto the Hy-Vent and allows the vent to be replaced without having to drain any fluid from the system. The Taco Automatic Air Vent The high-capacity design and psi system operating pressure rating make this heavy-duty, brass Air Vent ideal for placement throughout commercial systems.

Its conical shape significantly increases the clearance between the water level and internal mechanisms, reducing the potential that dirt floating on top of the water can foul the venting operation. Operating Temp. Automatic Air Vents. Description Documents Where to Buy Need help?