Draining heating pipes to do work on walls

RyanD

I'm redoing the walls in the basement and the baseboard heater is becoming an problem. I originall thought I could just move it away from the wall and work behind it but it's becoming hard to work with and today I stumbled upon this issue where if I want to remove the old boards I'm going to have to remove the pipes as well.

What's the best way to do this, is there constantly water in these pipes or are they empty if the heat is off? I traced them back to the furnace and it appears to be that one pipe goes out controlled by the thermostat(duh) and another is the return pipe that comes back to the furnace attached to the furnace which also appears to have a spout attached which I can only assume is for draining it. Could I just attach a hose to this, open it up and drain the pipes? Is there a set amount of water that is stored in this system so when it comes time to put it back I know how much to put in?

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MACPLUMB

YES THE WHOLE SYSTEM STAYS FULL OF WATER AT PRESSURE, ! !

GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK FOR THE EXPERTS

WWW.HEATINGHELP.COM

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35 YR. MASTER PLUMBER WITH PH.D IN WATER HEATERLOGY, MASTERS DEGREE IN DRAINLOGY,
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PLUMB ANY PIPE, SNAKE ANY DRAIN, MAKE COLD WATER BOIL ON A FREEZING DAY
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Maintenance 6

The heat pipes are continuously filled with water at low pressure. Turn off the boiler. Shut off the water supply. Open the drain to remove the water. If the is a bleeder someplace at a high spot in the heat loop, open that to admit air into the loop as you drain it. Refilling it will be simple. Getting all of the air back out can be a challenge sometimes.

RyanD

So it sounds like I could easily drain it myself but it might be better to call in a plumber to drain the air out when I'm ready to hook it back up.

Joe F

Correct. Should be no problem draining it. If you have concerns, get a plumber to help with refilling.

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RyanD

The line I want to drain is in the basement with the furnace so I'm guessing the water will get stuck in the low spots. What's the best way to get this out?

We have a fish tank hose than you hook up to a facet that creates positive force to keep suction on the other end, I'm wondering if I hook the hose up to this and then the other end if I can suck all the water out. :-)