Old Solar System, need help

[jbrodt]

Good Afternoon All,

I'm somewhat new on here between my wife and I. I've taken over pool duties and have finally decided to tackle my leaking and older solar heating system. I don't know a lot but have managed to fix some of the leaks in the system. The system is a heliocol and I think the pool was built in the mid to late 80's. I bought the house with the pool, hand have had pretty decent luck maintaining and cleaning, with many trips to the local pool store and visits to this website.

Back to the solar.......

I turned it on yesterday, and by turn it on i adjust the valves to divert water to the system. There are some leaks, about 6 or seven, and most of them are coming from connections of the main pipes. I've taken a couple apart, inspected o-rings, lubed up and reinstalled (which is what i was told to do from the heliocol dealer), i've had success on one, one is still leaking. I've read on here that you need to drain your solar system. I'm not sure how to do that. I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions regarding this as i dig deeper into it. I will include pictures of the plumbing near the pump and filter.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

 

[carlscan26]

Are the leaks at the pad or on the roof?

 

[jbrodt]

Are the leaks at the pad or on the roof?

All the leaks are on the roof. There is a coupler that joins the pipes together. This is where most of the leaks are. I've fixed some of those. I do see a leak where the smaller connections meet the larger pvc as well.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Take a picture or two of the offending connectors and post them. We'll have a better idea how to address the leaks with that.
Are they clamped connections?
On the smaller connection leaks, is that where the tubes join the header?

 

[jbrodt]

Most of the leaks are coming from the clamped areas. There's is one, maybe two leeks coming from the small tubing connecting to the header. I'll get some pics up soon.

Also, how do I drain the system?

 

[JasonLion]

If the panels were properly installed they should drain down on their own. You appear to have the valve set to not send any water to solar and the check valve on the solar returns means no water should get in that way. Given that, and assuming you have a vacuum release valve, the panels should drain any time the pump is off and not fill up again. If you don't have a vacuum release valve, they there should be some valve somewhere that you can open to allow them to drain down. Of course, if they were not properly installed all bets are off.

 

[jbrodt]

Thanks for the reply. I don't see a vacuum release or any manual drain option. Although I don't really know what a vacuum release looks like. I checked some other posts to see what one may look like and I have seen nothing like it. I'll check again today to see what I can find. If it stops raining.

Thanks!!

 

[carlscan26]

It will be on the panel piping on the roof. Should be close to or at the highest spot I believe.