Solar fill pump use

[Chriswills]

I have bought a solar fill pump, the Rothenburger. Have the premixed glycol ready to go too. I have done one many years ago but a bit rusty. Can anyone give me an instruction to drain, flush and fill please. 

[Dillsue]

Heres how I did our evac tube system.

 

Put up access scaffold

Cover panels/tubes with dark tarpaulin

Open drain at the bottom to vent pressure

Open vent on the roof to allow draining

Once flow and return have drained, close drain and vent

Refill with water

Circulate water for an hour or so.

Drain as above

If fitted, check accumulator is still pressurised on gas side. Pump up with bike pump if needed

Refill with solar fluid til it comes out of vent on roof.

Circulate for an hour or so.

Top up til fluid comes out of vent on roof

Remove fill pump and seal up system

Repressurise from mains

Circulate for another hour or so.

Vent any air out of roof vent and top up pressure if needed

Remove tarpaulin

Watch system work exactly as it did before, after a mornings work!!!

 

 

[Chriswills]

Thanks but I need instructions by using a solar fill pump. I’ve no intention of going in the roof 👍

[Nickfromwales]

11 hours ago, Chriswills said:

Thanks but I need instructions by using a solar fill pump. I’ve no intention of going in the roof 👍

You don’t have a choice! Either you go up or a plumber does, but if you don’t do as above then your system will stay airlocked and you’ll have just wasted time and money / chemicals for zilch.

 

Some installers used to invert a pipe to a manual vent in the head of the attic space, so this can be vented (bled of air) without going on the roof. If you have bottle gents then you’re prob still going up as these cook and fail and are usually isolated by the installer with a valve so they don’t get called back when they leak (which they will do, so you’ll need to change those too most prob). 
 

This isn’t an afternoon job for DIY.  

[Originaltwist]

I used to fill my evac tube panels with a garden sprayer - the backpack one with a pump handle - so @Chriswills I hope your pump is just as good. You'll be connecting it to the fill station and as soon as fluid starts heading up to the panels then air will be coming down and the air bleeder on the pump station will need manual bleeding a few times. I'm fairly confident this will work for you because the tube types just have a manifold across the top and can't hold much air.

[Dillsue]

OK. The Rothenburger pump is quite a fancy bit of kit......compared to the garden sprayer I used. There's a user manual online that tells you how to use it.

[Chriswills]

I had a go and it’s fine. No air and running ok

[Kai casswell]

FYI I always fill and flush panels without going on the roof, unless there is already scaffolding up. With the correct solar filling pump you dont need to..All the air gets dragged into the pump well and de gasses there. You can see the air coming out over an hour or so as the fluid turns from milky to clear. I probably get called out to about one or two of these every month. 

[John Carroll]

My system has a de aerator (manual venting) installed at the pump station, I recharged my (flat plate) system last year because of a leak on this de aerator body, did get some air afterwards when venting but not a huge amount.