X-Trol Expansion Tanks

X-Trol has issued a notice to all suppliers that have sold expansion tanks to have installers check the pressure in the tank before installing. This notice applies to all pre-charged tanks. The D.O.T. says they being shipped with too much pressure to be safe for transport...Big brother keeping us safe....again.

Just as a matter of good mechanics I always check the pressure before I install any brand of expansion tank and adjust it according to the height of the highest radiator in the building.

Just one more reason I like my steel expansion tank, no bladder to worry about.

lzaharis wrote:Just one more reason I like my steel expansion tank, no bladder to worry about.

That way you only have to deal with the drama of water logging and PRV popping.

Really, all kidding aside, it's easy and kind of a "no brainer" to take a tire pressure gauge and set the pressure before you install the tank.

-Don

Tell it like it is SD.

If my system is water logged I will know it due to the higher pressure in the system and low amount of heat transfer in the radiators=colder house etc. After draining the steel tank of excess water and letting the Airtrol spit only air all is good.

I like being able run my system at 12-15 pounds and not having to crawl around on bad knees to lose bleeder keys in the baseboard while I am trying to bleed the baseboard. I learned the hard way to tie some nylon twine to the key and tie the twine to a pipe so I can avoid losing it at the worst place to bleed the system when I needed to bleed the air slug out of the system.

I like being able to bleed the air from my system on top of the steam chest and power purging the loops if needed by opening the boiler drains on the heating loops.

If I had known better I would not have let the plumbers that put in the wood and coal boiler in 1982 rip out the open to air expansion tank that was in the ceiling, it would still be there now 35 years later.

If I had known better back then I would have bit the bullet and spent the extra 2K for the new VanWert Anthratherm 400 in 1982 then too.

I guess I must have adjusted the pressure right on my steel/rubber bladder expansion tank the 1st time. I have no need to adjust the air in my radiators or worry about lost keys while on my knees. My keys will flip out of my pocket sometimes when I am upside down on the inverter,but that isn't tied into my heating system.

The nice thing about a sealed hot water heating system with
a steel expansion tank is all you need to do is add water to
maintain a very low operating pressure and eliminate air bubbles.

I can always convert my steel tank system to an open to air system with
a top vent pipe through the ceiling to the roof line with no issues.

If I decide to change the tanks location I will still have a low pressure hydronic heating system with a side mounted tank level gauge by adding a longer glass gauge tube as I have the existing glass gauge valves mounted in the end of the tank already. All I need to do is move them to the two side tapping's by removing the pipe plugs and installing two reducer bushings.

Either way these very simple system low pressure systems are easy to own and operate without air scoops or air vents that go bad, get water logged and leak.

I also do not have to deal with a heating system that loses pressure and requires a jet pump to push fresh water back into the system as it is sealed from pressure loss unless a pipe breaks.

The steel expansion tank keeps a 10 gallon charge of water at the top of the system to create 12 PSI pressure rather than depending on a bladder expansion tank.

Its all a matter of ones preference and knowing what works with the least amount of work.

I don't have a jet pump hooked to my expansion tank,will it head for the moon some day ?

Probably.

windyhill4.2 wrote:I don't have a jet pump hooked to my expansion tank,will it head for the moon some day ?

To clarify:
The only time you need a jet pump for a sealed hydronic heating system with a bladder tank is when your well craps out and you have no water to replenish your boiler and you need to pump water out of a five gallon bucket using a washing machine hose to fill it through the boiler drain.
I had to do it enough times to get my heating system to bladder tank heating system to work so..........

Sounds like too many big leaks or blow offs if you have a need to add water as you describe.

[quote="McGiever"]Sounds like too many big leaks or blow offs if you have a need to add water as you describe.

Occasionally (perhaps once every couple years) I get the urge to close my boiler feed water line valve. Whenever I've done this, a few days later it is still at 12 PSI, so I open the valve back up.

The older system that I replaced with the coal boiler had a leak on the feed water back-pressure regulator line, so I left the feed water valve closed permanently, and didn't gain or lose pressure in the system.

lzaharis wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote:I don't have a jet pump hooked to my expansion tank,will it head for the moon some day ?

To clarify:
The only time you need a jet pump for a sealed hydronic heating system with a bladder tank is when your well craps out and you have no water to replenish your boiler and you need to pump water out of a five gallon bucket using a washing machine hose to fill it through the boiler drain.
I had to do it enough times to get my heating system to bladder tank heating system to work so..........

Well Izzy,you got me there..
I suppose I will consider replacing my bladder with a steel tank,then when my well drys up I can just get a bucket of water from a creek,crawl up on the roof & just dump that bucket of creek water into the steel tank below me.

Thanks for the idea,it sure will save a big headache someday.

lzaharis wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote:I don't have a jet pump hooked to my expansion tank,will it head for the moon some day ?

To clarify:
The only time you need a jet pump for a sealed hydronic heating system with a bladder tank is when your well craps out and you have no water to replenish your boiler and you need to pump water out of a five gallon bucket using a washing machine hose to fill it through the boiler drain.
I had to do it enough times to get my heating system to bladder tank heating system to work so..........

I'm confused here. If the system is "sealed" then why would it need to be "replenished"? Are you talking about a closed system? There should be a back flow preventer on the water supply so that if the supply goes to zero psi the heating system/boiler will still hold pressure.