Bleed the battery through the valve (video)

Residents of private homes and residents of urban apartments regularly face the problem of air-conditioned batteries. Especially often this phenomenon occurs at the beginning of the heating season or during repair work. Of course, you can call the plumber from the management company, but it may take a long time to wait. How to bleed air from the battery yourself and restore the heating system?

Signs of air lock

You can understand that air has accumulated in the battery for several reasons:

• Uneven heating of radiators. This may concern a separate battery or the entire heating system of the apartment. In the first case, the air part of the radiator will not heat up. In the second, the plug will interfere with the normal circulation of the coolant through the system, which will cause some batteries to be hot, while others will be much colder.
• Hissing or gurgling in radiators is a clear sign of the presence of excess air in them.

What is the danger of air in the battery?

Before you figure out how to let the air out of the battery, you should understand how it got there and what is dangerous.

In addition to lowering the heating efficiency, the appearance of air in the batteries can lead to the following problems:

• The metal from which the radiators are made is more susceptible to corrosion when in contact with air. Therefore, the service life of the elements of the heating system is significantly reduced.
• The difference in temperature of different elements of the pipeline can lead to its destruction.
• The operating life of the circulating sediment is significantly reduced. Under normal conditions, its bearings are in water, when air enters, it significantly increases friction, leading to breakdown of the device.

Reasons for airing batteries

There may be several reasons for air to enter the system:

• In an apartment building, this most often happens when the system is filled with coolant. According to the rules, the process should be carried out rather slowly, with constant air bleeding, but in reality it is not always so.
• Incomplete tightness of the heating system. In this case, you will have to bleed air constantly until the disadvantages are eliminated.
• Carrying out various kinds of repair work. If at least a partial analysis of the pipes was made, a certain amount of air will inevitably get inside. Therefore, after such events, it is imperative to bleed air from the heating battery.
• Low quality of the heat carrier: the increased content of air dissolved in water over time can lead to the formation of an air congestion.

Air plug elimination

A special valve, usually located at its end, will help to drain air from the battery. In older models, you will need a radiator key. In modern models, a Mayevsky crane is installed, for working with which a simple screwdriver or a special one is enough a small metal or plastic key that can be bought in the household or construction store ..

The sequence of actions is as follows:

• A sufficiently capacious capacity must be substituted for the radiator. When bleeding air, a certain amount of water will be released from the battery. Better not to let it hit the floor.
• In movies and in life, plumbers plunging water, wet from head to toe, can be observed. Indeed, this operation may be accompanied by spraying water under pressure in the system. This is not only unpleasant, but can also harm the decoration of walls or furniture. Solving the problem is quite simple: you need to put a rag on the valve, which will hold off all the splashes, and the water will quietly drain into a bucket or basin.
• With a wrench or a screwdriver, gently unscrew the valve until a clear hiss of outgoing air is heard.

• As bleeding starts, water will drip. We must wait until it spills a thin stream. The valve can be closed as soon as the air stops bubbling in this jet. Usually this operation takes 5-7 minutes.

Tip. If you do not want to repeat the air bleeding procedure too often, then follow the advice of professionals and drain at least 2-3 buckets of water. This will ensure that the air from the radiator is completely removed.

A video will help you visualize this operation.

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A very convenient device is an automatic air vent. Here, the procedure takes place without any human involvement: when air accumulates, a float falls, closing the drain hole. After airing, the float returns to its place. A significant drawback of such devices is the increased requirements for the quality of the coolant. Therefore, in apartment buildings with centralized heating, they are rarely installed, since they quickly fail.

And if there is no drain valve?

Sometimes there is no bleed valve on the radiator. This usually applies to old cast iron batterieswhere its role is played by a stub. In this case, the work is complicated, but not so much that it was impossible to do it yourself.

• It is necessary to stock up with a gas or adjustable wrench, with which you can unscrew the plug.

Important! Be sure to block the access of the coolant to the radiator from the riser. This is done in case the plug is fully turned out. The pressure of water then simply does not allow it to be inserted into place, and this will result in flooding of the neighbors.

• The main problem is that usually the plug prevents the thick layer of paint and hardened tow from turning away. You can solve it with kerosene or thread lubricant. We put it on the compound and wait 15-20 minutes.
• Gently turn the plug and let the air out the same way as in the case of the Mayevsky crane. Do not forget about the water tank and a rag that prevents splashing.
• When tightening the plugs back, you should remember to put a sealant, for example, FUM tape on the thread, to prevent battery leakage in the future.

To facilitate this difficult task, many owners in the past put in place the stubs of the usual crane. He did not add aesthetics, but the procedure was much easier.

In private homes, an expansion tank is used to eliminate air congestion. After draining the water, a tap opens on it, and in most cases the cork disappears. If this does not happen, it is recommended to increase the temperature in the house so that the coolant boils. Then the problem of airing will definitely disappear.

To guarantee, it is enough to carry out the procedure for bleeding excess air for all batteries twice. Then the heating system will function normally.