Bleed Valves

All last winter one of my bleed valves had a slow leak. Not much, just a drop every minute or two. Just enough to be annoying and make a wet spot on the floor.

The leak was not from the valve itself, but rather from the threaded connection between the PEX-to-threaded pipe fitting and the bleed valve adapter.

This photo is of the leaking old one with 6 months of mineral deposits, etc...

A few weeks ago I made a new assembly, cut the old one out, and installed the new one.

When I opened the shut off valves...

It leaked worse than the old one.  Argh!

Did I mention that I assembled it using used parts?

Probably not a good idea...

So, off to the store to get new ones and try again...

And a third time...

Still no luck.

So I gave up and installed a PEX plug at the top of the tee. I filled the vertical PEX stub with water before crimping everything, so it will still function as an air trap.

Lo and behold, no leaks.

Now SWMBO is happy because the in-floor heat is working again.