gadget for self-diagnostics

[Joe]

Hello everyone

During the recent cold spell one of my hot-water heating pipes froze and cracked. I would like to determine which one to replace without spending too much time in my 2' crawlspace. Can you tell me if the following would work:

1. Close both ends of the loop at the heater.
2. At the baseboard in the middle of the loop, undo one side so you have access to the pipe that goes into the basement.
3. Make a little gadget that you solder onto this pipe. The gadget lets you pump in air using a bicycle pump and shows you whether anything is leaking.
4. Repeat process until you know which is the bad pipe.

Does this sound like it could work? Any and all advice would be appreciated, it's going to be really cold over the weekend :>

Also, once the pipes are repaired, how do I "start up" the cycle without introducing air? I have two heating zones and one's working as is my shower water and I don't want to lose that. Any pointers to sources of info would be great.

Thanks a bunch in advance, Adriaan

[m Ransley]

Cant you See the leak ? Your system will need the air bled out upon startup, and refill to proper level

[SQLit]

Why not defrost the system and run it for several minutes. Shut it down, and look for the water. Freezing damage is usually pretty evident.

You will have to bleed the system of air once the repairs are made. That depends on your system.

[jim]

after you see where the leak is coming from.. you then remove the broken pipe and then replace pipe and then do it again.. when you see no more water leaking then you can probably say i have fixed it and no more leak.. they well water pressure gauges at ace hardware store that you can attache to an outside faucet and turn on the meter water valve and then make sure all the inside taps are closed.. this will give you your water pressure.. when it goes up no more in pressure after bleeding all the air out of the line you can saftly say that you have no leaks if the pressure neigher goes up nor down with the meter valve turned off.... the guage probably cost about $5.00