can you ELI5 the physics of bleeding radiators on an apartment building?
I live on the 14th floor of a 30 story apartment building and so far, I've been bleeding my radiators myself.
This usually worked and after bleeding I had a fully functioning radiator, 100% filled with water.
However, last time I tried bleeding, it would only fill up to 25% of its volume, it's like there's no pressure in the circuit.
Am I doing something wrong?
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That depends entirely on how the system is set up. I would only ever consider increasing the amount of water in the system if I was absolutely certain that my apartment was on a completely separate and closed circuit than the other apartments. You should contact the janitor or whatever it's called.
Usually, at the
heatingboiler, there is a junction for a hose with a valve and close by a pressure meter. If the pressure is too low, the janitor (not you) should fill up the heating system with water until the pressure is sufficient. Ideally, the pressure should be checked again after bleeding the radiators.Yup, that's how it's done when there's a heat exchanger.
However there's a reason why the boiler room is usually locked off in a 30 story building. Bleeding a radiator might be relatively harmless, but there's no way of knowing what the pressure is supposed to be without knowing the entire system.
Some (lower) buildings might even have direct district heating without an exchanger, which is absolutely no go to even bleed.
Exactly. That's why either the janitor knows the correct pressure or they need to call a technician. Definitely not something to have hands on oneself in a building that's not yours.