Hi all,
Trying to help a friend troubleshoot his heat issues. House had been vacant and some things were shut off. With this valve open, water just spits out at the of the bottom pipe. With it closed, water does not seem to be getting to the boiler and thus no heat.


[imgur.com]

Photo of the boiler area is TOO SMALL to tell what is there. That is the boiler feed, and would normally be on, but cannot tell what that item below it is.

That is the water supply pipe. It is used to fill and maintain the system pressure. The pipe that is spitting is coming from a backflow prevention valve. It has failed, unless the boiler pressure is higher than the house pressure. Usually that valve is left open(city pressure). The water passes through a backflow preventer, designed to stop boiler water from contaminating domestic water, in the event of a loss in pressure on the city side. The water (city pressure) then passes through a pressure reducing valve. The bell shaped valve in the picture. It reduces the pressure to a point that it will keep the system full to it's highest point of radiation, usually 12 -14 psi.



Edited 1 times.

yeah, it is probably watts 9-D.. easily replaced in 3 minutes.
[www.google.com]

Here is a zoomed in picture: [imgur.com]

see my post above..
it is a 1/2 inch watts 9-D.
it has union ends and can be changed in minutes.
there are shut offs above and below it.
break the unions, remove the valve, unscrew the overflow and screw it into the new valve, slide the valve in place and tighten the unions.

Thanks, Packy!



Edited 1 times.

So nice to see ball valves on both sides.

for the few bucks extra cost of having the added valve, it is amazing to me that some installers will not use one.

Sorry, but sarcasm is lost on the inexperienced (me). So not sure what you mean by the ball valve comment.

Not sarcasm......They were just saying that it was nice to see the ball valves used. It makes it so much easier to replace components.