major air after storm

Hello my problem after a few years of trying to fix myself is this…. after a significant rain we get a lot of air in our water pipes. We are on city water and I feel that I have tried everything. Many times I have purged the pipes and it is ok for a while….until the next big rain. I am quite sure that there are no leaks in the house and neighbors are not affected. Otherwise the plumbing works fine. If anyone has any advice or has heard of this before please advise.. I just don't want to have to live with this.

Letting us know which state or country you live in would be great help. I for one cannot understand how rain affects plumbing if you are on city water.

Help us with providing as much detail so we can help you.

not enough information. maybe, the water pump station, is loosing power do to the storm.
this will cause air in water lines

Ok I am just outside Philadelphia PA. I have gas hot water and a gas fired boiler. My initial thoughts were that I was getting some back siphonage from the heating system with changes in atmospheric pressure or humidity. However I closed off the valve that feeds the heating system for quite some time and after purging the remaining water system the problem returned after heavy rain. My thoughts now are that somehow air is entering the system, gets shifted around for some time and then after heavy rain,maybe because of some system pressure drop the air then is displaced upwards to the highest point.. being my upstairs bathroom. I am not a plumber or a physicist, but I am capable of soldering in a valve, so here are my remaining thoughts…..1 is it possible that an older (1970) washing machine is creating some air when cycling water on and off? 2 could I have a leak in my pipes BEFORE my water meter? 3 I am out of ideas and most professionals don't seem to have any idea what I'm talking about. It has been pretty frustrating. Please help with ANY ideas. Thanks Oh one more thing that I found possibly unusual.. when all the water fixtures are turned on (not all the way) when I am purging the air, the upstairs bathroom sink barely dribbles water and NO water comes into the toilet when flushed. I thought that was weird. I had a PRV valve installed 4 years ago to replace the old nonworking one.. I thought that may have been the problem at the time but no.. pressure now runs at about 65.

Think about it like this. The entire system is pressurized all the time, so if you had a leak, water would leak out, but air certainly can't leak in against water pressure pushing outward. So unless you have a check valve somewhere that can hold your system pressure in the house and the pressure on the city side of the check valve goes to zero, I don't see how air could get in. A pressure reducing valve can act as a check valve also. So if the city pressure goes to zero or minus zero which could draw in air, that would be the only answer I have. Unless of coarse the city is somehow putting air in their lines.

Chris, when the city pump station goes down, customers are still able to use water untill the pressured system bleeds down pressure thru the pipes.

when that happens, no water in line, it is replaced by air.

when the pump station comes back on line, you will have air in the line.

air, travels on the top of the pipe. it is not just 1 big bubble. it is numerious small bubbles.

these bubbles find their way to your house piping.

sometimes it will take up to a week to rid the system of air after a shut down.

Just wondering here-

Would something like this plumbed into the system expel trapped air (and/or trapped gases in a WH)? ...

- https://www.plumbingsupply.com/aireliminators.html

I am on an extreme learning curve here so please be gentle...

KULTULZ said:

Just wondering here-

Would something like this plumbed into the system expel trapped air (and/or trapped gases in a WH)?

...

- https://www.plumbingsupply.com/aireliminators.html

I am on an extreme learning curve here so please be gentle...

Click to expand...

Powervent Gold / Supervent - Residential

when installing city main lines we add air vacs at the high points to release air in the pipes. they come in 1" so I am sure you can put one on your private main if you wanted.

We use Val matic brand release valves.

Chris said:

when installing city main lines we add air vacs at the high points to release air in the pipes. they come in 1" so I am sure you can put one on your private main if you wanted.

Click to expand...

So it is plausible to install such a vent on a residential water distribution system and not only on a boiler heating system or hot water recirculation system?

you can install it where ever you wish.


but why? your domestic system is not a closed system, just open a faucet.

Chris installs them on water mains, they are a tad bit different than house plumbing


i think you are confusing a closed loop system with a open system.


a closed loop, has to have some way to bleed air, so you install a air bleeder valve

an open system has faucets, they ARE air bleeders

frodo said:

you can install it where ever you wish.

but why? your domestic system is not a closed system, just open a faucet.

Chris installs them on water mains, they are a tad bit different than house plumbing

i think you are confusing a closed loop system with a open system.

a closed loop, has to have some way to bleed air, so you install a air bleeder valve

an open system has faucets, they ARE air bleeders

Click to expand...

But...

Wouldn't such a purge valve help prevent the condition the OP described and the other thread describing a possible gaseous WH, i.e. sudden blasts of water/air when a faucet is opened??

They are needed on an circulatory hot water system to prevent possible pump cavitation, right? What about air ingestion resulting from a faulty expansion tank for instance?

Curious in W (By GOD) V...

no, unless you put one at the end of each run.

a closed LOOP is a loop. you install one at the high point

a domestic water system is not a loop.

it is a main line with dead end branch's with faucets

you would have to install 1 at the end of each branch

or,, turn on the faucet