some branches of my radiator pipe tree not getting warm ?

amakarevic

i narrowed it down to a cluster of tees where two .75 in pipes are teeing off two parallel-going horizontal 1.5 in pipes. the 1.5 are hot as hell and the .75s are shooting up perpendicular and vertical and neither is getting hot. it is in the basement and the two .75s are in and out for a radiator two floors above. one of the tees makes a fancy D-shaped curve to circumvent another pipe, was wondering if the formation may be impeding the flow. there is another similar branch of 1 in pipes one foot away and they are working fine.

could it be a clog or something in the problematic branch that impedes the flow of water ?

thanks.

skymaster

If those "T'S" are a normal T used in waterlines then they are the WRONG fittings. There are special T'S for heating lines I think they are Uniflow or something like that. Also go to the radiators and BLEED them. If they were working before then more than likely you have gotten air into the system.
There are supposed to be vents that open with a key like a skate key

amakarevic

is there a more conventional name for the skate key ? i tried googling it but did not find anything.

also, there are regular copper Ts and the pipe is M copper, all the other parts of the system are working well.

should i keep the water in the system while bleeding or drain it first ?

thanks.

Marlin

I call them bleeder keys, not sure if their is a technical name for them.

Normal Tees aren't necessarily bad. Do you have a two pipe system or a monoflow system? A monoflow system should use monoflow tees, a two pipe system will use regular tees. If you had a monoflow system without the monoflow tees it never would have gotten hot in the first place.

Defintaly keep the water in the system. The idea of bleeding is to remove air, draining it does exactly the opposite.

skymaster

Go to a plumbing supply house, hvac. Might even find em in the ugly Orange or blue box stores. YES you want the water IN the system and the circulator running. Ask for a vent key, vent will be on top and looks like a small nipple sticking out and if you look inside you will see a square stem, thats where the key fits, loosen it and you should get nothing but water from it, otherwise you will hear air comming out and you want to let it all out till there is only water NOT bubbly water just solid water from it then close the vent

amakarevic

thanks everyone

skymaster

You are welcome, however is it fixed? :} I will presume so

amakarevic

out of town until then

will keep you posted.

- a