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[silver star]

I had an garage heater intalled last week and got my boiler going.

Downstairs heat is fine, and the garage heater is hot on entry and exit pipe.  Directly inline with upstairs, but it isnt getting the water up to it.   I know some water drained out when the lines were cut for the hook up, but since the heater seems to be ciculatiing? Am at a loss.   

[E Yoder]

Are all three coils in series? Downstairs-garage-upstairs? Probably put some air into the upstairs coil. Do you have a way to blow it out with house pressure?
I'm probably missing some details. Might be some air at a high point and it's trickling by. But I don't know how it's plumbed.

[wreckit87]

I second that^^^. Likely let some air in when cutting in the unit heater which has now floated to the highest point and created an airlock. A vent up there is a good idea

[E Yoder]

Just remember, anything higher than the overflow on the furnace is in a vacuum.  You can suck air in too. That's where domestic water teed in really is useful to blast out the air. Or tee in a boiler drain out at the stove on the supply line and hook up a hose.

[silver star]

Thank you guys.  Actually I dont think there is a tie-in from the water supply. What are your thoughts if I tie in on the line running up the garage wall, to the upstairs furnace, and run water up to push the air out, or tie in above the heater on that same line?

[wreckit87]

Thank you guys.  Actually I dont think there is a tie-in from the water supply. What are your thoughts if I tie in on the line running up the garage wall, to the upstairs furnace, and run water up to push the air out, or tie in above the heater on that same line?

If you're tying into the system anyway, I'd just add a vent on the top (should be supply) line. That way if/when when you airlock, it's as simple as cracking the valve. Pressure from the circ pump will push the air out the vent and reestablish a flowing circuit. I prefer hose end ball valves for longevity, but a simple boiler drain works too. Hose connections are definitely nice if you have a lot of air, just screw a washing machine hose on and dump into a bucket until the air has been eliminated. I have considered an auto-vent as well, but have never executed the plan as I feel a valve is more positive insurance..

Not taking away from the domestic purge idea, that certainly works too but it's way quicker and easier to crack a valve for 3 seconds IMO. Plus if you tie your domestic in hard, you should really have some sort of backflow preventer as well as the fact of losing some of your corrosion inhibitor from the overflow and introduction of new oxygen into the system with new water. My 2 pennies anyway

[RSI]

Auto vents don't work on an open system if they are above the height of the boiler. They sometimes let air in.

Depending on height of system and pump size, it may be necessary to partially close the return valve at the boiler when bleeding air. Otherwise it can suck air in when opening a bleeder valve.

[E Yoder]

Auto vents don't work on an open system if they are above the height of the boiler. They sometimes let air in.

Depending on height of system and pump size, it may be necessary to partially close the return valve at the boiler when bleeding air. Otherwise it can suck air in when opening a bleeder valve.

I would tend to agree. I prefer to tee in and purge with house pressure, in the garage would work fine as its before the high point.
But a manual vent could work if the pump is big enough. I was concerned the upstairs might be too high. Then it gets tricky.

[silver star]

I called the shop that installed my boiler. They said they likely installed a connector for such things.  Since I also have a damper issue, and new equipment was tied in, I asked them to do a service call. -   I enjoy solving problems, but the dang thing saves me so much money, I want it fully operational asap.   

I have been running it for my downstairs unit, and manually propping the damper and closing it as boiler temp changes. Keeping small amount of wood in the box. Seems to work well- just have to feed it more than the 12 hour feeds I am used to.   

Little education on wood economy is good. getting a better feel for how much to put in on temperate days, and to have faith when it looks like the fire and coals are dead, a little oxygen is all it needs.

[E Yoder]

How they get you fixed up soon! It's not fun to limp along.