Thank you, Steve, for posting this video. We had 5 burst pipes / separated joints in the baseboard of the 200 year old house we recently bought, due to all the drafts in the poorly insulated walls in the recent really cold New England weather. When I removed the baseboard panels for the repairs, I found that the prior owners had already patched several sections of baseboard, so freeze ups are apparently an ongoing issue in this house. And we’re running a wood stove now, which is reducing the frequency of calls for heat. Working on insulating better, but with all this, plus having a zone that heats the garage that I’d like to set as cold as possible, antifreeze was clearly called for at this point. Using a drill pump on the boiler drain, I followed your 5 gallon bucket purge & mix method on our 7 zone pump system, and this worked perfectly. Very little air left in lines, and when I started it back up, the automatic bleed valves quickly eliminated what remained, and every zone worked perfectly! THANK YOU for sharing this terrific and relatively easy method for accomplishing this job.

Interesting procedure Steve. I like that small water pump you use. It looks like a real workhorse with all the water it's able to move.

Great video Steve and neat setup I never seen that done before , always learning .

Thanks for showing me the right way to do this. Thanks Steve.

Great Job Stevie, keep up the good work.

Great video steven lavimoniere very interesting on how that type of system works and how you flush out or add new antifreeze. Great job.

Good Video. I have an Apollo Hydroheat system in my home up North. It uses the water from my gas water heater and circulates through a coil in the inside air handler. Works very well.

Thanks for your time

Very interesting video Steve. That old mix was some ugly crap sitting in that bucket.

right on steve hell ya thank you sir.. cool show

That was very interesting Steve thanks for sharing...

Hi Steve, good video. I want to put plumbing anti-freeze in my heating system. Do you pump all the water out of the heating system before adding the anti-freeze.

Thank you, Steve great video. I see this is an old video but. How do you know how much antifreeze is needed in a system? Is there a test kit to see the temperature limit like in a car? Hope you see this.

Steve , do you test and treat boiler water for things like Ph, hardness etc. and add chemicals as needed?

Steve can you check the freeze levels of the antifreeze in a hot water boiler with a regular antifreeze tester you would use on a automobile radiator??? Thanks Bob F

Nice video thanks

Never heard of this type of system !

Good voice over for what you were doing. So, it looks like you use ball valves for normally open valves and gate valves for normally closed valves (ex, boiler drain, purge valves) just piecing the logic of part usage together.

Make sure you have a backflow preventer

Nice video, never was a big fan of the AF II.

Ok I appreciate the fact that you took the time to produce this video. I have to drain my system to replace ALL of my zone valves because they have stiffened up so much that the motors have trouble moving them. I may not have put in in floor heat in my attached garage if I had know what I would be getting into. Anyway, do you test the concentration of the antifreeze? I understand that as antifreeze concentration goes up efficiency goes down but the manufacturer of mine recommends a concentration of no less than 50%. Is a lower concentration better for the rubbers on the valves, expansion tank, etc?

I'm surprised a watts 9D with a reducing valve is considered appropriate protection in your area

I'm using antifreeze in my system @ 25% to keep the bacteria down. I didn't hear this benefit mentioned. Cheers

Good video, My system requires 40% Poly Glycol with Distilled water every 3-5 years. Iv noticed that were replacing rubber gaskets in our 3/4 HP pumps every 2 years. Im thinking its because of the Glycol in the system. Also our T&P valves on the boiler ware out and leak, Im replacing those again this year before we start up. Do you think Glycol will always be doing this to our system? do you think I should lower the % put into the system? or use a different antifreeze ?

what kind of pump is that???? thNks Upstate NY

hello steven love your work you truly great at what your doing sharing your story on HVAC. 1. question do the taco 220 universal flo check value do they go bad. in other words do you have to change them out.

Can you purge when boiler is cold or when its running?

Hi, is that distilled water that's normally in the system or regular tap water?

we run propylene glycol with our geothermal units, never have to change it out and it works fine with the rubber hoses. although it is a lot more expensive

Why the coolant color is red? Is it triethylene glycol?

Unfortunately, I learned the hard way what can happen if you need this, but don't do it. When we had that long, hard freeze a few winters ago, I was away, and my boiler shut down, and EVERY pipe, including the hydronic heat split. It was a NIGHTMARE!

how much will a job like that will cost for 2 zones

One more note. I wonder how anti-freeze/glycol will affect those o-rings in 10-15 years in those copper ProPress fittings??

Steven, We don't have a call for antifreeze here in Phoenix but as you know I teach them around the country what I want to know what is the price of five gallons of glycol? It's has been a long time sense I bought any.

How do i add antifreeze if I only have a purge valve and don't have the drain valve? Is it possible?

Thanks for sharing Steven. What do you use for anti-freeze? Propylene or ethylene? One of the piping contractors who worked at the hospital in the past said to me, "You want to find leaks in a hot water hydronic system? Put glycol in it." Sure enough, not six months later, every shitty solder joint and every union on the control valves that was never tightened completely leaked onto the floor, or above the drop ceiling. Does the anti-freeze cause any type of foaming issues internally inside the boiler?

Just out of curiosity, could you have removed the boiler relief valve and poured the antifreeze in there? I ask because i recently used hercules boiler repair to seal a hairline crack and in the direction it recommended removing the pressure relief valve and pouring it in there. Btw the boiler repair product did not work. For some reason the product was not getting into the middle section. Its a burnham v73.

Looks like they need a small 15 gallon fill buffer tank so its easier to fill and flush out

Thanks Steven, I know every time I bring it up the only answer is its to high.

How do you add antifreeze in the boiler. What you did was antifreeze in the system correct? How to add antifreeze in the boiler itself? thanks for your great video teaching

Zone valves were open the whole time? You said they were closed in the beginning then @17min you say you opened them! Confused!!

What does that container do? lol

I see you added a new tool to your left ear this week. Just warn us in advance if you are going to get a whole row of shiny teeth and look like the grille of a Cadillac, so that we can put on our sunglasses and not be blinded!

What if the system has no one way valve on the fresh water supply, wouldn't you possibly contaminate the drinking water

If evacuating a system with antifreeze where should i dump the old antifreeze?

if the home is just a summer home, and the heating system is not used, why not just drain the system rather than adding antifreeze?

Get to the point dude. Ya know?