Condensate pipe and pressure

[nottingham_ed]

Have had a long problem with pressure in my WB Greenstar HE plus combi - been losing pressure since last October. At first it was only every week or so that I had to top it up, but now it is every day almost.

Had British Gas out on HOmecare plan - they reset the expansion vessel and then checked the rads - no leaks found but they did put some of that sealant stuff into the system. 2 weeks later still no joy.

I had noticed that when the boiler is off, every so often a lot of water comes out the condensate pipe - like a real lot - i put a bag on it and it collected about a pint and a half in 2 hours - while the boiler was off (ok, maybe I ran some hot water at some point for a minute or so but nothing more)

Told this to Engineer when he came back and he said it sounds like the heat exchanger has gone - so they are going to replace it. Does this sound like the correct cure? The thing is, they have said a power flush is necessary at the same time which costs £££!!!

Any advice please?!?!?

Thanks

 

[Essex Fitters]

Yea eeeerm, bit of a tricky one.... still sounds like it could be your expansion vessel to me. You need to use a really good plumbing & heating company and trust what they say. I do always recommend use the sole trader as they are cheaper and still maintain the standards but in this instance I don't want you to get ripped off!

 

[Alpha man]

Is the water coming from the plastic pipe or a copper pipe?

 

[plumbandplumber]

Apart from the pressure drop, do your rads heat properly, and hot water flow at the right temp. If yes, a power flush shouldn't be needed.

Get the pressure problem sorted first, before thinking about power flushing, which is a great earner for BG!

There are far cheaper ways of cleaning a ch system.

 

[nottingham_ed]

coming from the plastic condensate pipe - not the prv. i have just, as a test, filled the system to 2 bar, switched the boiler off completely and then put a bottle under the plastic pipe - 45 mins later it had nearly a pint of water in it. eeek!!

 

[nottingham_ed]

we have had genderal probs with heat flow - takes a long time for system to heat up and bottom of rads never hot enough. We had 10 new rads put in last Sept and the guy didn't balance them so know that could be part of the problem.

 

[Essex Fitters]

balancing is easy, just find a thread on here and go by that. Maybe your boiler is not big enough to cope

 

[Reg Man]

If you are getting water out of the consensate pipe when the boiler is not turned on and the system pressure is lossing at the same time, I think it is almost certainly a leak on or around the heat exchanger. The system water quality should be checked and if found to be unacceptable then power flush. Magna clean filters and the like are a good idear. Does not sound like a proble with the exspansion vessel as you would have water dripping out of it and your PRV would be discharging because the system pressure will rise.

 

[nottingham_ed]

ok thanks all - let's hope the heat exchange replacement will cure it!!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

i would tend to agree with regman

 

[gasleak]

Do you have a water softner?
If you top you system up with water from the softner the salts can eat away at the heat exchanger over time

 

[bokmunc]

Hi, we have the same problem as yours. The pressure kept dropping after we topped it up. The water is escaping from the white plastic pipe (condensate pipe). How did you sovle your problem? We have the homeplan with BG as well. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Regards.

 

[Mike Jackson]

Heat exchanger failed is the most likely explanation. When BG come out and recommend a powerflush ask to see the sample of water they have taken to confirm this and the results of the tests that they have carried out.

 

[bokmunc]

Thanks a lot, Mike. They are coming tomorrow. So we will post everyone for the result. Merry Christmas.

 

[spanners1967]

could be the filling loop needs replacing....