Bleed the old radiator. How to bleed air from a heating system: getting rid of air pockets

It's hard to avoid startup problems heating system, even in cases where the work was performed by specialists in this matter. One of the most common and no less unpleasant of them is an air lock. Why is it so unpleasant for us and our batteries, how and with what help can we fight it? Let's talk about this in our new article - air lock or how to bleed air from a heating radiator.

If the battery does not heat up properly and gurgles and hisses are heard from it, oxygen has most likely entered the system. The danger of an air lock is that it leads to corrosion and over time can damage the entire heating system. Air gets into the system for various reasons; it may be an error during installation or filling the entire system with water, or it may bad water, which contains oxygen in the form of impurities or bubbles.

What can an airy heating system cause?

The result of such an air lock is a reduction in the service life of the radiator, and if used autonomous system heating - the shaft bearings break, followed by the pump, since the boiler has to distill air instead of water.

How to properly bleed air from a battery

To release all the gas accumulated in the pipes and batteries, you will need a radiator key; it is used to adjust the air valve; such keys are sold in all hardware stores and are available different sizes for different batteries. In newer battery designs, the valve can be opened with a flathead screwdriver. If there is more than one radiator in your house, make sure that you can open the valve on each one; you must bleed air from all radiators installed in the house.

A similar operation must be performed with all batteries in the house, even if there are no problems with them. For prevention, all gases are usually released once a year and after repairs or any other changes to the heating.

Procedure:

Find a basin or any other container to drain the water, then locate the inlet on your radiator and Exhaust valve and make sure they are open.
Using the key, turn the valve counterclockwise. At the same time, a characteristic hissing sound should be heard, which means that the air is safely released and replaced with liquid.
This is where you will need a container; a few drops of water will come out along with the air and As soon as a steady stream flows from the valve, tighten it back.

Types of air vents and their installation locations

Mayevsky's manual tap.

Also called a needle radiator valve, it is distinguished by its simplicity and durability, and is made of brass. The design involves a body and a conical screw. All parts fit tightly against each other and reliably hold water in the battery. When opened, air is released from a small hole on the side. Mayevsky's crane happens different designs and depending on this it can open differently.

Installation of such a crane does not require special professionalism. The main thing is to choose the right size faucet. Before installation, you need to drain the water from your battery, and then unscrew the plug in the radiator cap. For greater reliability, you can wrap FUM tape around the thread.

The product can be purchased at a price of 30 rubles.

Automatic air vent.

This device automatically removes all gases accumulated in the pipeline, and is therefore undoubtedly more convenient than the Mayevsky tap. Made from bronze and stainless steel. It can be installed with a shut-off valve, which is needed to easily replace the air vent.

An automatic air vent is installed in the most high places heating system, since gas is lighter than liquid and rises to the top. Experts recommend installing a diverter behind the boiler, on the collectors and on the most high points where the pipes go.

Prices for such equipment start at 300 rubles.

Air separator.

The operating principle of this device is based on separating gas from liquid and removes all microbubbles and oxygen dissolved in water from the system. The design uses special PALL rings, and all microscopic air bubbles are caught by their surface. In addition to catching bubbles, separators also catch dirt circulating in the system.

A separator is installed immediately after the boiler, since most of the oxygen is released from the water when heated and is best removed immediately.

Such equipment can be called advanced and the prices for it are correspondingly higher - from 10 thousand rubles.

Multi-stage system.

Considered the most effective method removing air accumulated in pipes and radiators. It consists in combining several types of devices in one circuit. Typically looks like this:

Mayevsky's battery-powered crane.
Automatic air vent next to the boiler.
Air vents on the manifolds.
Separator after the boiler.

Most the best option usually costs more than others and our case is no exception. The exact price is determined from a specific scheme.

Anton Tsugunov

Reading time: 3 minutes

Residents of private houses and residents of city apartments regularly face the problem of airy batteries. This phenomenon occurs especially often at the beginning heating season or during repair work. Of course, you can call a plumber from management company, but you may have to wait quite a long time. How to bleed air from the battery yourself and restore the functionality of the heating system?

Signs of an air lock

You can tell that air has accumulated in the battery by several signs:

. This may concern a separate battery or the entire heating system of the apartment. In the first case, the aired 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, causing some batteries to be hot, while others will be significantly colder.
Hissing or gurgling in radiators is a clear sign of the presence of excess air in them.

Why is the air in the battery dangerous?

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

In addition to reducing heating efficiency, the presence of air in the radiators can lead to the following problems:

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

Causes of airy batteries

There may be several reasons for air getting into 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 quite slowly, with constant bleeding of air, but in reality this is not always the case.
Incomplete tightness of the heating system. In this case, you will have to bleed the air constantly until the deficiencies are eliminated.
Carrying out various types of repair work. If at least partial disassembly of the pipes was carried out, some amount of air will inevitably get inside. Therefore, after such measures, you should definitely bleed the air from the heating battery.
Poor coolant quality: an increased content of air dissolved in water can lead to the formation of an air lock over time.

Removing air lock

It will help to bleed air from the battery special valve, usually located at its end. Older models will require a radiator key. Modern models are equipped with a Mayevsky tap, which can be operated with a simple screwdriver or a special small metal or plastic wrench, which can be bought at a hardware or hardware store.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

You need to place a sufficiently capacious container near the radiator. When bleeding air from the battery, some amount of water will certainly be released. It is better not to let it get on the floor.
In films and in real life, you can see plumbers draining water, wet from head to toe. Indeed, this operation may be accompanied by splashing of water under pressure in the system. This is not only unpleasant, but can also damage the finish of walls or furniture. Solving the problem is quite simple: you need to hang a cloth on the valve, which will hold back all the splashes, and the water will calmly flow into a bucket or basin.
Use a wrench or screwdriver to carefully unscrew the valve until you hear a clear hiss of escaping air.

As it bleeds, water will begin to drip. We must wait until it flows in a thin stream. The tap can be closed as soon as air stops bubbling in this stream. This operation usually takes 5–7 minutes.

Advice. If you do not want to repeat the 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.

The video will help you visualize this operation.

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

What if there is no bleed valve?

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

You need to stock up on a gas or adjustable wrench with which you can unscrew the plug.

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

The main problem is that the plug usually makes it difficult to unscrew thick layer paint and hardened tow. You can solve this with kerosene or thread lubricant. Apply it to the connection and wait 15–20 minutes.
Carefully turn the plug and bleed the air in the same way as in the case of the Mayevsky tap. Don't forget about a container for water and a cloth to prevent splashing.
When screwing the plug back in, do not forget to apply a sealant, such as FUM tape, to the threads to prevent battery leakage in the future.

HELPFUL INFORMATION: How to choose bimetallic radiators heating for apartments: comparison of 5 brands

If some batteries remain cold when the heating system is turned on, this is a consequence of their airing. That is, air bubbles form in them, requiring mandatory removal. In some cases, the system begins to noticeably gurgle and murmur, as small forest streams do. All this indicates that the heating needs to be ventilated. Let's see how to bleed air from a radiator and what tools we need for this. We will also tell you where the air in the systems comes from. closed type and open type.

Reasons for airing

Many people are interested in why air appears in heating systems. And this is truly surprising, because heating systems are sealed. In fact, airiness is a fairly common phenomenon that manifests itself in private homes and apartment buildings. Only in multi-apartment buildings the problem of de-airing is dealt with by specialized specialists from the heat supplier. IN own home You will have to deal with this issue yourself.

Before we tell you how to bleed air from a heating radiator, we will tell you about the main reasons for the formation of air locks:

Natural air formation during use aluminum radiators and some other types of low quality batteries. Air bubbles are formed here as a result of the reaction between metals and water;
Penetration of air along with water - this may contain dissolved gases that do not appear under normal conditions, but are released when heated and in contact with metal surfaces, causing the coolant to become airy;
When carrying out repair work, the battery may indeed become airy after the last repair. If you do not bleed the air, the battery at the repair site may be cold;
Violation of heating system installation technologies - air in the heating system may appear even at the stage of installation installation work. And if the installers did not observe the slopes and did not install valves that allow air to bleed from the system from the batteries, then the problem becomes permanent;
Cracks or random gaps in the elements of the system - air from outside is sucked in through them.

An air lock in the heating system is not always a sign that the installers did their job poorly. If the batteries are constantly airing, this may indicate problems with the water - you need to analyze it and install a water treatment system. Most often, it is aluminum batteries that will air, while bimetallic radiators are practically not susceptible to this.

There is another reason for air getting into heating radiators - through plastic pipes. Some of their types are equipped with far from the highest quality oxygen barrier.

What does air affect?

The thermal image especially clearly shows how much the presence of air pockets affects the temperature of the battery.

The presence of air in heating radiators is an obstacle to their normal functioning. In the place where air pockets accumulate, a cold area is formed. As a result, operating efficiency decreases and the rooms become noticeably cooler. If the air is not released, the heating will not be able to work at full capacity.

On startup circulation pump You can hear a slight gurgling sound from the radiators and pipes - this is a direct sign that your heating system is airy. The pump cannot press through the air pockets, which is why they circulate in place, causing the formation of gurgling sounds. And raising the pressure is useless, since you need to either bleed it or try to add water to the system - sometimes this really helps.

Sometimes air pockets form directly in the pipelines of heating systems. As a result, the coolant cannot get through to the batteries, since air interferes with it. You need to somehow get rid of it, otherwise the heating boiler may fail - it will simply overheat due to the lack of normal circulation.

How to remove an air lock from a heating system

Medical experts say that diseases can be treated, but it is even better to prevent their occurrence. The same applies to heating and air congestion. Let's see how to get rid of existing traffic jams, and also talk about how to avoid their occurrence in the future.

Preventing the formation of air pockets

You can avoid the appearance of air in the heating system even at the very initial stage of its startup. To do this, it is necessary to correctly fill the pipes and batteries with coolant. IN open systems this is done in the following way:

We open all the valves to ensure unhindered movement of the coolant;
Leave the drain valve closed;
We begin to carefully fill the system with water.

Please note that the pressure is not very high.

When filling a closed heating system, bleed air in the following way:

We connect a pressure test pump, which allows pumping stable pressure in the heating;
Close the taps on the radiators;
We are waiting for the system to fill up.

Despite its apparent simplicity, the Mayevsky crane is extremely effective tool, performing the assigned task perfectly.

Now you need to fill the batteries with water and get rid of the air using Mayevsky taps. We go through everything sequentially heating devices, carefully open the valves, let in the coolant, remove air masses using the above taps, after which we close the valves. The pressure in the pipes must be maintained at one atmosphere, so it is more convenient to perform the operation together. At the final stage of work, we turn on the heating, wait until the set temperature is reached, and then repeat the procedure with the batteries.

Help prevent the appearance of air in the heating good radiators, for example, steel or bimetallic - in them the likelihood of air pockets is reduced to almost zero. When carrying out installation work, it is necessary to pay attention to tightness, carefully and completely tightening all connecting parts. It is also recommended to install automatic or manual air vents.

One of the air vents is installed at the highest point, since air in radiators and pipes tends to accumulate in the upper parts of heating systems.

What to do if air pockets form

Our task is to properly bleed air from the heating system. If a house or apartment with individual heating has cast iron radiators that are familiar to many, then the matter is complicated by the fact that they may not have the means to eliminate air locks. Bleeding air from a cast iron battery is done in several ways:

By carefully unscrewing the plug using a gas wrench;
By removing the coolant and installing valves that allow air to be released at any time;
By using high pressure water - allows you to break through the airlock.

The first method is the most difficult. Firstly, the plug may be painted over with numerous layers of paint - it needs to be peeled off somehow. And secondly, the plug may completely rust to the battery body - in this case, you should use some kind of liquid to loosen the grip of the rust.

The well-known WD-40 liquid, which penetrates well into the deepest layers of rust, will help you unscrew the rusty plug.

When planning to bleed air from a cast iron battery, do not forget to place a bucket, basin or any other container under the plug into which the water will be drained. By the way, it is water that indicates that the air lock has already come out. After that, screw the plug back.

The next method is to install in cast iron battery automatic or manual air bleeder. The place for its installation is the same plug. We cut a thread in it and install an air vent. Now, as soon as an air lock occurs in the heating, use the vent and your problem will be solved.

If you don’t have a Mayevsky tap, you can remove the air using powerful water pressure. Connect the heating to the water supply, open the water tap and wait until the pressure can clear the air lock. This method is well suited for old heating systems, where no one thought much about the problem of airing.

Removing the air lock using bleeders

Automatic or manual bleeders (Mayevsky taps) will help to bleed air from the heating radiator, and at the same time from the pipes. Today they are mounted on all radiators, since airiness can manifest itself anywhere, even if all standards and rules for installation work are observed. An air valve for radiators is inexpensive, but it has many benefits - it will allow you to clear out any air congestion that has formed at any time.

In order to bleed air from the battery using a Mayevsky tap, it is necessary to determine the location of the airlock. This is done by touch, you just need to feel the heating devices after starting the boiler. Where you find cold areas, there are plugs that interfere with the operation of the heating - it is these that we need to remove using the Mayevsky tap.

After the location of the plug has been determined, it is necessary to turn the tap and ensure that the accumulation of air detected there comes out. Don't forget to use a bucket or basin to avoid flooding the floors. A signal that the entire air lock has been safely released is a trickle of water oozing from under the valve. While the water is bubbling, it means that air masses are still escaping. We carry out a similar procedure on other batteries where plugs are found.

The easiest way is to install automatic air vents on radiators. Their main advantages:

Independent work that does not require human intervention;
Compact design - they will not spoil the interior;
Reliability - being in good working order, they will not let you down.

Automatic vents allow you to release even the smallest amounts of air. That is, they do not allow its accumulation. But the accumulated air masses not only interfere with the heating, but also lead to the formation of corrosion.

Now you know how to remove air from radiators - the easiest way to do this is with automatic bleeders. If you still don't have them on your system, there's nothing stopping you from mounting them in summer season when the heating is turned off.

If it is not possible to install drains on batteries, they can be mounted side by side, directly on the pipe, by cutting out a small section and installing a tee with a valve there.

Video This article is about how to remove air from your heating system and how to prevent it from re-airing. In it I will talk about solutions for different heating schemes

and different levels of reader qualifications, about the causes of air locks and the prevention of their formation.

Bleeding air when heating starts.

Why is this bad?

What is the harm of an air lock in a water heating circuit? The main danger is that it can completely stop circulation in the entire circuit or in its individual section. Pressure drop in a typical heating system apartment building

between the mixture after the water-jet elevator and the return (that is, at the beginning and end of the heating circuit) does not exceed 0.2 kgf/cm. On a separate riser, it even corresponds to a pressure of a few centimeters of the water column.

Pressure distribution in the elevator unit.

This difference is not enough to overcome the difference in density of air and water. As a result, the top of the riser remains airy, and coolant circulation in it is impossible. The consequences are a lack of heating in apartments, and at the very first serious frost - defrosting of a section of the heating circuit.

The cast iron battery is crushed by ice. Moreover: in the majority apartment buildings Soviet-built buildings still use black steel pipes for heating. Its contact with air in conditions high humidity

sharply reduces the life of the pipeline. Corrosion, you know.

Where does the air come from?

Where do airy batteries come from? Shouldn't the circuit be filled year-round?

Must. There are strict instructions on this subject from Heat Networks, which are responsible for the operation of the central heating system.

Only - that's the problem! - in addition to instructions, there is also a harsh reality:

Summer is the time for inspection and repair of shut-off valves on risers and in elevator units. Filling the circuit and bleeding air from each riser after replacing each valve and flushing the housing organization will simply go broke paying for water consumption if this is done;

Residents of apartments during the holidays are often puzzled by replacing and moving radiators. At the same time, they also dump the risers, or even the entire house;
When the valves are closed and the circuit is cooled, the volume of coolant in it decreases. Physics, however. As soon as you open any valve, the riser will noisily suck in air;
Finally, after heating has stopped, cooled cast iron radiators often begin to leak between sections. The reason is the same thermal expansion. After the tenth - fifteenth leak in one entrance, the mechanic is faced with a difficult choice: spend the whole summer rebuilding the batteries and replacing the gaskets, or simply reset the circuit for the couple of months remaining until the fall.

Leak between cast iron sections. Look in spring in all apartments in the country.

How to play off

The method by which the heating circuit is ventilated predictably depends on two factors:

From its configuration. Bottom and top filling systems are designed differently;
From who you are - a tenant of one of the apartments or a mechanic servicing apartment house. This determines your goal: should you try to run as much as possible? possible quantity risers without going to the upper floors.

The plumber enters the basement with administrator rights.

Bottom filling, access level - user

What does it look like to remove an air lock in a house with bottom filling if you are the owner of one of the apartments in an apartment building?

The key feature of the bottom filling is the pairwise connection of heating risers. The supply and return bottlings are located in the basement; The risers are cut off from them by valves, after which there are plugs or taps for discharging water.

All air from the bottom filling heating system is forced into top part each pair of risers. In apartments on the top floor or (less often) in the attic there is a jumper between the risers. Directly on it or in the radiator cap of one of the radiators there is a Mayevsky valve - a simple device that allows you to bleed air.

Mayevsky tap on a heating radiator.

For a resident on the top floor, it is enough to turn the tap half a turn and wait until water flows out of it in a thin stream instead of hissing air. If you live below, pay a visit to your upstairs neighbors at a time convenient for them.

If the residents of the upper floor have not moved in or are away, the problem is solved by the housing organization servicing the house. Your task is to record a request for a lack of heat in the apartment.

If the problem is not resolved in as soon as possible, you have the right to demand a recalculation for heating, so housing developers usually try to do everything possible and impossible to start the riser.

Recalculation for heating is done if your apartment does not comply with sanitary standards by warmth.

Bottom filling, access level - administrator

How to remove air pockets from a bottom-fill heating system if you are on friendly terms with plumbing and have access to the basement?

Bypass the entire heating circuit. To do this, it is enough to close one of the house heating valves and open the discharge into the sewer located in front of it; if the air has not escaped after 5-10 minutes, the system can be bypassed in the opposite direction (from supply to return or from return to supply).

Do not forget, after closing the reset, return the valves to operating mode: the shut-off valves at the inlet and outlet of the heating circuit must be completely open.

The rod is unscrewed and the valve is open.

If the problem concerns individual risers, in many cases they can also be diverted from the basement. After closing the valve on one of the paired risers, open the vent on it. If it comes out of the tap with water a large number of air, you have a chance of success.

First of all, this concerns a pair of risers, one of which is idle, and the second has heating devices installed. When water is started to be discharged from the working riser into the idle riser, complete removal of air always occurs.

One of the paired risers feeds the radiators, the second - idle.

If there are plugs on the riser instead of vents, don’t despair, we can try to solve the problem in this case too.

Here are two obvious solutions:

Close both risers and, having reset them, install instead of one of the plugs ball valve with male-female threads. Unplanned expenses (price ball valve size DU15 - DU20 is approximately 100-200 rubles) will hardly seem like a nightmare to you given the lack of heating;

The vents on the risers will save you from unnecessary problems the next time you start up.

Close both valves on the risers, and then unscrew one of the plugs. Having moved the riser to discharge, stop it and screw the plug back, then start it into operating mode. Water hanging in a relatively thin tube will not allow it to take in a new portion of air.

This technique works only at the beginning of the heating season, when the temperature of the mixture at the elevator exit does not exceed 45 degrees. In cold weather, instead of starting the riser, you will get quite serious burns.

Top filling, access level - administrator

How to remove an air lock from the heating system of a house with top filling?

The peculiarity of this system is that the supply bottling is located in the attic of the house with the return flow located in the basement. Each riser is switched off at two points - at the top and bottom; all risers are equal and on the same floor have the same temperature.

Heating scheme with top filling.

When the circuit starts, air is forced out of the heating battery and then from the riser into the supply bottling, and then into the closed expansion tank located at its upper point. Having opened the house valves, you must go up to the attic and briefly open the tap at the top of the tank. After the air is displaced by the coolant, circulation in all risers will be restored.

At the top right is a closed expansion tank with an air release valve.

If you are far from the secrets of valves and gate valves, just apply to service company. In a top-fill house, you won’t be able to bleed air from the battery yourself, but you can easily fill the top floor residents from the attic.

Private house, access level - administrator

What to do in a private house if the heating circuit or part of it does not start?

The bad news is that there are no universal recipes: the heating circuit of a private home is always designed individually.

The good thing is that designers are guided by the same principles:

At forced circulation automatic air vents in the heating system are installed near the circulation pump (usually in front of it in the direction of flow of the coolant). The air vent can also be located in the boiler body. If there is air in the circuit, perhaps the air valve is simply clogged with debris or scale;

Boiler safety group. In the center there is an automatic air vent.

An air release valve is installed on individual heating appliances only if they are located above the filler. If the bottling takes place under the ceiling or in the attic, look for the air valve for heating in its upper part;

The radiator is located below the filler. The air will be forced upward.

Each bracket (the bend of the filling in the vertical plane) is also always equipped with an air vent. If for some reason they are not there, you can try to distill the bottling for disposal using one of the methods described above.

The reason for the lack of circulation is often not air, but a completely or partially closed throttle on one of the heating devices or sections of the circuit.

The photo shows the throttle on the radiator hose. If it is covered, the battery will be cold.

Safety

What not to do when bleeding air?

Human imagination is truly limitless, so I will give only repeated cases from my practice.

Of course, from the repertoire of apartment residents: plumbers have their own quirks.

Do not completely unscrew the rod from the air vent. Under pressure hot water it cannot be turned back;
Do not try to unscrew the valve body itself. Even half a turn. If the thread is broken, flooding of the apartment will become inevitable;

It is safe to unscrew the air vent only with the riser removed.

More worst idea will partially unscrew any of the radiator plugs to bleed air. There were precedents. In the last case I know of, 6 floors were flooded with boiling water.

Very, very unwise.

Prevention

Is it possible to modify the heating system with your own hands so as not to encounter the problem of airing?

If you live on the top floor or in a private house, you can.

The recipe is extremely simple:

In an autonomous circuit, connect heating devices according to the “bottom-down” scheme. Even if air accumulates inside the radiator, it will not affect the circulation of water through the lower manifold. In this case, the battery will be hot throughout its entire volume due to its own thermal conductivity;

With this connection scheme, even an air-filled battery will be hot.

At the top point of the riser or the entire circuit, install automatic air vents. They rarely require maintenance and bleed air locks without your participation.

An automatic air vent can easily replace the Mayevsky valve on any battery.

Conclusion

As you can see, all the problems of heating air are completely solvable. Find out more about possible solutions you can from the video in this article. I look forward to your additions and comments. Good luck, comrades!

The Mayevsky valve, strictly speaking, is a radiator needle air valve, designed to bleed air from the heating system. Initially, its purpose was to suppress the illegal and dangerous intake of coolant by residents for domestic needs. Given the lack of a normal centralized hot water supply, this was a widespread problem, both at the beginning of the last century and, unfortunately, now. Now the Mayevsky crane is in greater demand due to its ease of use and its compact size.

You can bleed air from radiators and other parts of the heating system using any shut-off valve, however, a regular ball valve is simply too large and its presence on every radiator in the house will look unsightly, and the cost of installing them is too high. A tiny valve, only for air release, hidden in a small plug, usually no more than one inch in diameter, much more aesthetically pleasing and practical.

Safety is also not the last priority. Any full-fledged valve has too high throughput. Leaving the valve open since last season can seriously damage the renovation of your apartment by flooding it with water. With Mayevsky's crane everything is simpler. It cannot be opened accidentally, so children will not be able to cause a flood by simply running past. The small cross-section of the channel will limit the volume of water flowing out.

Design and principle of operation

The design and operating principle are almost completely described in official name Mayevsky crane. This is a needle valve with a cone-shaped rod that closes the through channel in the device. Inside the valve there is a thin hole for bleeding air, which opens only if you start to unscrew the stem.

To open the air vent, you will need a special key or a regular slotted (flat-head) screwdriver. Having completed half or full turn, a thin channel opens between the contents of the radiator or pipe and the external environment. Due to the high pressure inside the heating system, air and coolant are released outside, and not backwards. If air has accumulated at the installation site, it will come out first, followed by water.

The Mayevsky tap is made of corrosion-resistant brass, which ensures a long service life. More often this is a stub made with external thread½ or ¾ inch, equipped with a needle valve.

Automatic crane operating diagram

How to use and how to bleed the battery

Depending on the heating design, the Mayevsky tap is installed in places where air can accumulate and create an obstacle to the flow of water. When filling the heating with a new portion of coolant or during operation, air should be vented if necessary. To do this you need:

Prepare any container of 2 liters or more, or a rag, sponge, anything that absorbs water. Place them directly under the outlet of the Mayevsky tap.
Open the tap so that you can hear the hissing of the escaping air.
Once all the air has come out and only water comes out, close the tap.

A common mistake encountered in practice– Gradually, when air is released, the coolant begins to be sucked in, and it comes out in portions. However, this does not mean that it is time to turn off the tap. It is possible to determine that there is no air left only if the water comes out evenly and without splashes. A container or rag will help to handle just that small amount of water before you can turn off the tap.

It is necessary to repeat the procedure for bleeding air at all points where the Mayevsky valve is installed. In houses with two or more floors, air descends first from the lower radiators, and then from the upper ones.

Auto

The Mayevsky tap itself cannot automatically remove air; it is a device exclusively for manual removal of gases. However, using the same principle, automatic air vents are developed and produced, whose operating principle is similar to the Mayevsky crane, and they do most of the work independently.

An automatic air valve has a small chamber oriented strictly vertically to collect air. Inside the chamber there is a float connected by a rigid connection to a needle valve located at the top of the device. As soon as the level of the air layer exceeds the permissible limit, the valve opens briefly and the air is released. Since the float also rises, the valve quickly returns to its seat and prevents coolant from leaking out.

Automatic gas outlet is a mandatory element in an autonomous closed heating system. During the inevitable process of corrosion, the release of air bubbles from water, or during the reaction of aluminum with water, if there is direct contact between them, gas pockets accumulate that can block the path of the coolant or cause the permissible pressure to be exceeded. Air exhaust solves these problems without the participation of residents.

Specifications

Mayevsky taps with ¼, ½, ¾ inch threads are available for sale. It is necessary to determine in advance the type of socket with which the radiators are equipped in order to determine optimal size. For cast iron radiators, as well as welded pipe registers, you will have to additionally drill a hole in the side plug or directly in the pipe and cut the thread. Separately from the Mayevsky tap, ready-made plugs for standard cast iron radiators are sold.

For ease of use modern models Mayevsky taps are equipped with a handle with a side outlet.

A conventional valve with manual air release is usually installed in a horizontal position, an automatic air valve is installed strictly vertically, or is determined by the manufacturer in the case of a corner design.

Installation

The Mayevsky tap is installed only on the upper floors and upper radiators in the case of a vertical radiator connection scheme, as in most apartment buildings. Air from the lower floors, with sufficient coolant pressure, is independently removed from the radiators, accumulating in the upper part of the entire system.

For horizontal wiring, all radiators should be equipped with air vent valves, since independent air venting is difficult. If a radiator begins to heat less at high coolant temperatures, it means it’s time to bleed the air.

It is mandatory to install a Mayevsky tap on the heated towel rail, since most of it is located above the level of the radiators.

For a heated floor system, it is better to organize air venting on a collector group raised above the floor level and using an automatic air vent, so as to guess or diagnose the presence of air in in this case difficult.

Installation of the Mayevsky crane is carried out in the off-season. It is necessary to drain the coolant from the system and only then proceed with installation. With modern radiators, it is enough to unscrew the plug at the section furthest from the water supply connection point and screw on the tap instead. For cast iron radiators, you must first screw in a plug with a prepared hole and thread.

For heated towel rails and register radiators, the easiest way is to use a Mayevsky tap, made in the form of a tee, one of the outlets of which is an air vent. It is cut or screwed into the top connection point of the heated towel rail.