We've just bought a 50-year old home with baseboard hot water heating. I know how to bleed pipes and radiators to release air blocks, but I can't find any bleeder valves in the "usual" places at either end of the copper pipes. :rolleyes:

Sounds silly, I know...

Would they be located anywhere else along the pipes? Below the floor? Is there another way to get air out of the pipes if they don't have any bleeder valves? Would there be one valve for the entire system--that I just haven't found yet? (How many questions is that?)

I've always been told to bleed them at the beginning of every heating season.

Many thanks!

Ellie

Bleeders can be located anywhere including a high air tube in the attic space.
Unless you have a fitting that has threads you will not be able to bleed by the old crack a thread method. High bleeder lines can also be located in the closet and various other places.
I have bleeders in my attic space that have auto vents. The auto vents also have a 1/4 inch copper line attached and if the vent sticks open you can tell by the water coming out of the copper tube sticking out of the lower roof vents.
I am telling you all of this just to show that vents can be any where. You will have to track them down.

You do not have to bleed your system every year if it has auto vents. Is the system working correctly? If so it might have auto vents but it is good to know where they are located. Remember the higher in the system a vent is the better it will work at trapping air at that location since air rises to the highest spot in the system. Good hunting!

From what I read here - I am assuming you have baseboard heat. Many times a contractor will not add bleeder vales on baseboard radiators. The bleeding of air is done primarirly during the onset of cooler weather. This is done by a purge vavle. It will look a little different than a normal valve in the aspect that it will also have a hose connection on it. You open the auto feed valve fully and then run water through system and out the hose. It may have a cock on it to isolate the boiler from the hose conncetion. If not there may be an extra valve installed to do this.