Hello all-

I am having a problem with air in my hot water system. I have a solar system with a 110 gallon tank and I live in south Florida. About a year ago I had a new pump and tank installed. The new pump is run by a solar panel and so it only runs when the sun is out. The water source for the house is a private well. Since this new system was installed, I have been having problems with air in my hot water. The cold water is okay. After a few minutes the air is flushed out. The gentleman who installed the system seems to think the air is coming from the well pump and it expands when it is heated which would cause a problem in the hot water but not the cold. Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve/fix this problem? The air is noisy when using the water in the morning before everyone else gets up.

Thank You.

By adding an Ex-trol tank, a pressurized thermal expansion tank with a diaphragm separating the two chambers within the tank, you should be able to control your problem. This is the same type of unit as is usually seen up high, over the boiler of a hot-water heating system, and does exactly the same thing: it gives the newly heated water somewhere in which to expand in volume, without rupturing the system piping. The pressurized chamber on the other side of the diaphragm pushes the expanded water back into the pipe network, maintaining constant system pressure, once you have equalized the pressure. Any good heating contractor, or plumber, should be able to install this into your system.

"By adding an Ex-trol tank, a pressurized thermal expansion tank with a diaphragm separating the two chambers within the tank"

We already have a (diaphragm) pressure tank outside with the well pump, so would the expansion tank still help? Is it possible that the well/well pump is drawing air?

Thank you,

Matt

In principle, at least, your tank should be doing the job for you. Not being there to assess your system, I can only guess that something must have changed when you had the new pump installed, if that's when the problem started. Perhaps your presure tank lost the air pressure charge on the air-side of the diaphragm, or, perhaps, the delivery pressure of the new pump may now exceed the pressure on the air side of the diaphragm, preventing pressure equalization. Often, hydronic heat systems have purge valves installed to rid the system of entrained air, since that causes poor heat transfer, clanging pipes, and general annoyance with the resulting inefficient system. Once again, a good plumbing or heating contractor should be able to see your system, analyze the problem, and come up with a viable solution, using off-the-shelf parts, to restore your system to its former glory.

You may need to purge the air out of the solar colector.
The well may need to be lowered a few feet (deeper into the water). it may be pulling a wherlpool type of siphon and pulling in air. This should be showing up in the cold water also.

what long-term structural damage can air in the hot water actually do?

Fishfool @ The Reef Tank

I will do nothing other then lower the efficency of the system

Does the new pump and tank system you installed circulate your potable water through the panels to heat it? Or does it circulate a seperate loop of water from the panels into the tank that then heats your potable water? My thought is that perhaps the panel is overheating the water and venting some over pressurized water which then creates a void in the hot water system someplace. If you have a temperature gauge on the system, check it on a hot sunny day and see what kind of temps your panels are creating. Most systems have some type of high temperature limit switch to prevent overheating.

quote:

I will do nothing other then lower the efficency of the system

It depends on where the air is. If it's in an electric hot water heater and allows a heating element to become uncovered, it can cause some damage.
It can also create some serious water hammer issues that could damage things like washing machine pumps or dishwashers.