“Very high quality, heavy duty boiler vent. Simple install and performed much, much better than others I have tried in the past. There was a short period of air expelled quickly and then within 10 minutes all the sputtering stopped and all the air was expelled from the system. It seems that the other valve-type boiler vents would only last a couple of months before clogging and leaking again. This vent works under a somewhat different principle, using a float inside a closed chamber. I suspect this should last through this season and from my research it should also last for quite a few years. Keeping my fingers crossed.”
“It's 2017, but I noticed that I haven't had a leaking Hy-Vent since I installed a heat pump hot water heater in 2015. This means the hydronic system never fires up to provide domestic hot water during the non-heating seasons. Whereas the oil furnace used to run daily to make hot water for laundry/showers/dishes, now it only runs September to April/May for baseboard heating. I should expect the Hy-Vents to double their service life from 3 years to 6 years. Original review: I would have given it 3.5 stars if possible. It does a great job of purging air from my hydronic/baseboard heating system zones. However, I have been marking dates on them since we remodeled our house 4 years ago, and none of them are older than 3 years. The culprit is always leaking water from the top cap, and I always find that the o-ring has been deformed permanently from just 2-3 years of use (see photos of failed vent valves that I'm replacing with new ones I just purchased). I would have given it 5 stars if Taco would sell a 3-pack or 5-pack of o-rings for say $2 so I don't have to toss an entire vent when only the o-ring fails. I expect these new ones to not last past 2017. Replacing these vents at the zones is fairly straightforward with only minor water spills and leaks to collect since I have a pair of shutoff valves at each zone. The one on top of the expansion tank is the most challenging since a lot of water comes out of the tank”
“I felt compelled to write a review for this float vent. This new float vent replaced an old generic float vent ontop of my hydronic cast-iron boiler. I recall buying the old float vent from your typical home improvement chain store about 6 yrs ago. For the past few years I have been constantly trying to purge air out of my boiler system. I recall spending at least 1 and a half hours a week trying to purge out air from all of my 3 zones from their spigot valves. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many times I completely purged my whole boiler system with a new stream of air-free water, the air bubbles still came back eventually. After I replaced the old float vent with this new 1 I bought, I re-pressurized my boiler system and turned on all zones on my boiler system to test this new float vent. I immediately heard "hiss""hiss" "hissssss" coming from this new float vent to my amazement. It was removing air instantly. It took about 25 minutes for this new float vent to completely rid of all the air in my system. I am completely satisfied with this product. I don't have to purge out air from my boiler system ever again! No more gurgling sounds from my radiators!”
“Same model number as the one my heating contractor had previously used on my system, but they wanted $160 to replace this and a Caleffi auto air vent. This Taco automatic air vent was very easy to replace. Shut off the water supply, close the existing ball valves to isolate the boiler or zone, drain the boiler until the pressure gauge drops to zero. Unscrew the old valve, put Teflon tape on the new one and screw on the new valve. Reverse the process and you're done in 10 minutes. Remember to keep the metal cap loosely in place to allow the air to escape. Note that if you have a tight clearance issue, the Caleffi automatic air vent has a 1/8" narrower profile, which is why the pros had used two different brands on my system (a riser comes very close to the air vent on top of my boiler and the Taco wouldn't fit). Other than where there are clearance issues, my heating contractor prefers Taco.”
“These have work perfectly on 3 of my upstairs radiators. I no longer have to bled air for the radiators when I don't feel heat. It was so annoying doing this manually so I decided to do some research and found out about these. Before you can install these, you will need to have your furnace drained so there will be no water pressure when you install these or you will have a flood if you try to install these. Your best bet will to have someone com out and install for you unless you have had experience draining your furnace. I was skeptical at first in buying these but now I wish I would have gotten one for each of my 5 upstairs radiators. Next year, I will definitely buy more of these for all my radiators.”
“Does a great job of removing air from my home heating system, which has never operated as quietly. The device is made of cast iron which can be brittle. The first one I received had a hairline crack and leaked, but I was quickly sent a replacement.”
