# Clogged Heat Lines, Packed tight with sludge.....



## PlumberPete (Nov 14, 2009)

During a recent bathroom addition, I installed a new section of baseboard heat. When I purged the system and bled the air through the bleeder valve I wasn't getting the heat to circulate. I decided to install a purge set up on the loop for the new bathroom (this is a monoflow system or aome call a venturi system. When I Cut out the old return side (black iron pipe) it was packed solid with debris, sludge and rust. I also noticed off the main supply and return the are not producing much heat. I can not get water through the new purge set up because of the blocked pipes. What is recommended here? New heating system piping? That is what I think. Any suggestions? Thanks.


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## dankman (Nov 19, 2009)

Repipe it. There are some chemicals that might remove the scale/rust but they may also remove some of the material stopping that piping from leaking as well.


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## plumbpro (Mar 10, 2010)

*This is why I go hourly on remodels*

Give the customer a choice-several hours cleaning pipes, or several hours installing new pipes


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## PlumberPete (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm thinking of going with the repipe. The home is two stories with one zone of heat. If you were to take the current configuration, and seperate it into two zones, you would have a zone for the front of the house and one for the back. It needs to be repiped for efficiency, as well.


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## Airgap (Dec 18, 2008)

dankman said:


> Repipe it. There are some chemicals that might remove the scale/rust but they may also remove some of the material stopping that piping from leaking as well.


 EXACTLY:yes:^^^


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## PlumberPete (Nov 14, 2009)

OK, so the repipe is in order now. So, what I need is to do some research. Is it possible to keep the old radiators and seperate each bedroom into seperate zones as you would in a newer baseboard loop system? Can you put zone valves on each supply to their respective room? It seems it may work, but I am not sure. Can you eliminate the "supply and return" system and include the existing radiators on a more common loop system, one loop for each zone as you would with a typical hot water baseboard system? Just some questions. I would really like to help my customer out the best way I can. They are not totally opposed to getting rid of the old radiators however, they would much prefer to keep them. Thanks :thumbup:​


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## OldSchool (Jan 30, 2010)

You can keep the existing rads and repipe.....you should considered keeping the main return line and zone the supplies from the boiler (will save you money on returns)... and yes you can loop these rads together


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