I need help with where the shut off valve is so I can purge the lines of air.. I think it's the large yellow handle above the boiler but not sure?

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In your first picture of the boiler facing forward you will see two SMALL yellow handled valves. The small yellow valve on the left side of the boiler is the shut off valve that controls the water supply to the boiler only.

In this case, however, you really don't need to touch that valve... you want water feeding into the boiler as you purge the air and water out through the return, right?

If you want, there is a FAST FILL feature on the pressure reducing valve (first brass valve with a lever) right after the yellow handled shutoff where you can engage the lever to increase water flow as you purge... this is good feature, but do NOT let the water pressure to the boiler exceed 20 PSI at any time during the fill/purge or as you exceed 20 and approach 30 PSI the boiler pressure relief valve could blow the excess pressure off and cause problems for you. Be sure that the final pressure in boiler when fished remains somewhere around 12-15 PSI...should only increase a little as the boiler heats up. If the boiler pressure continues to build up after all this. Then the pressure reducing valve may need replacement!

Finally, when I first started in plumbing/heating I was taught to run water from the hose into a 5 gallon bucket so I could visually see the air and watch for it to reduce before going on to the next zone... take your time though and be sure you give time for all air to leave each zone and things should be quieter in no time!

Good luck!

Mark

Thank you for the help. I am a novice to this and just want to make sure I am going to do this correctly. So I am going to turn the middle lever above the boiler going horizontally so I can purge the air from both valves? And also turn each zone valve to manual? Sorry just need some help doing this never done it before and wasn't paying attention when the plumber did it a few months ago. Should I have to be doing this frequently or is something bad in the system

Also in the last picture that long pipe coming down is dripping a lot a constant drip. Is that normal?

Nope, the valve I mentioned is NOT on the horizontal pipe. Reread my first post... I described the SMALL yellow handled valves on the vertical pipes... water feed shut off valve is the one on the left (vertical).

You should not have to do much here as your system is piped up in a way that simply allows you to hook a hose up on the returns and open. No need to touch the zone valves to manual... just leave them as they are with power OFF to the boiler and the zone valves will remain closed.

Now, that dripping pipe is from the pressure relief valve of the boiler. If the boiler pressure exceeds 30 PSI then the pressure reducing valve will need to be replaced or if the pressure exceeds 30 PSI during the heat cycle then the expansion tank needs to be replaced... could also simply be that the pressure relief valve is old/defective and simply needs to be replaced. This definitely needs to be dealt with as it is probably what caused all the air issue for you... water is leaving the system and may not be replaced automatically as the system should (pressure reducing fill valve may be defective and not feeding water automatically).

Finally, from what I can tell, you have a few issues here... May simply be best to call a plumber in to fix as he can resolve all this is 1-2 hours, MAX!

Mark

I also HIGHLY recommend you let a qualified serviceman do this for you, and you ask questions, and follow along closely. That way there are no mistakes as you LEARN your system, and how to do it yourself. There are also some good video's to study, but flying solo before you are ready is a BIG and maybe COSTLY mistake.

Massplumber2008 do you live in mass? I am on the south shore

I do... live in Norfolk County, MA, area, but I don't usually go much farther than Quincy/Boston area... if I can help it!

Thanks for the help guys purged the air out of the lines and the heat and water to the shower works great.. now I just have to replace those leaky valves