Just purchased vacant winterized home, water turned on but has air in lines - any suggestions?

Question

Just purchased vacant winterized home, water turned on but has air in lines - any suggestions?

Answer 1

We drain our water all the time in the winter at our vacation place.   This is no big deal.  

When you turn the water back on, you just have to leave all the taps on full, both hot and cold and let the air out.   It will spit and burp a bit, but eventually will run smoothly if you just wait a few minutes.  

Finally, don't try to turn on your water heater until you've fully burped the air out of the hot water lines.  If you have an electric hot water heater and the elements get uncovered, they will overheat and short out.  

In the fall, you reverse the process.  You turn off the main supply valve, open up all the faucets everywhere in the house, open the two drain c***s (there should be one for cold and one for hot, in the basement or somewhere near the main shut-off) and let all the water out of the supply pipes.  Then you flush all the toilets and go around with RV antifreeze and pour it down all the drains, toilet bowls, toilet tanks, etc.  It's important to make sure you get antifreeze into every drain, because the water left in that little trap under the sink will freeze and crack the drain pipe.   Also, think about your dishwasher and clothes washer if you have either of those in your new house.  They can be very difficult to get all the water out of and can be damaged by being allowed to freeze if there is water left in them over the winter.  Finally, you need to keep the pipe supplying the water and the main shut-off valve from freezing, because they still have water in them.  That is normally done by this heated electrical tape that you attach to the pipe.  That is probably already there if the house is winterized.  

Winterizing is definitely a bit of a hassle, but it sure beats paying for heat all winter long when you aren't there.  After you do it once or twice, it is no big deal.  We use our vacation house in the winter periodically, and I now can go through this whole routine in about 10-15 minutes with no sweat.

Answer 2

We just let ours run until the air is out. I happens frequently to our house after the power goes out for several hours.

Answer 3

What problem are you trying to solve? Trapped air gets pushed out when you run the water for a while, just like a garden hose. It also gets rid of the junk that is in the pipes. I've been through this a couple of times and water was disgusting, but running it cleaned it. Remove the aerators from the sinks temporarily while running the water. I had one sink that did not work at all. When I removed the aerator, it was fine. I had to replace it because it was caked with clay of some sort. I also had to replace the o-rings in another faucet and the flapper in a toilet. I guess they dry out when left for long periods. Or perhaps they leaked before and the previous owner couldn't afford to fix them.

If someone is telling you that something else, such as a noise, is caused by air in the pipes, then that is probably incorrect. If so, then tell us what it the symptom is. If not, you probably have solved the problem; congrats on a new home.

Answer 4

if you can't purge the air out of the line you either have a water leak or you have a well pump running in shallow water,and it's mixing air in the water.................tom

Answer 5

The first  answers are correct. Not much to add, except open all faucets and flush all toilets, one at a time until all the air comes out. Do not turn water heater on, until you have a steady stream of water coming out of all hot water faucets. Check entire system for leaks. A small wet spot under the water heater, on initial, fill is usually from condensation. No need to worry unless it is still there after a day or two.

Answer 6

Turn on all of the faucets in the house including the hot side and let them run until all of the air is out of the lines if you don't turn on all of the faucets there will still be air in the lines leading to the faucet's you didn't turn on.

Answer 7

turn it on and let it run till the air is out, this might take a little while depending on how much air is in the lines. Hope this helps.