Intermittent Discharges of gallons of water onto the basement floor but no leak?

[Robertr4836]

Hi, Homeowner not a plumber but I am having a problem I am hoping to get some advice on. House is 25 years old, we have been here for 11 years and replaced the boiler 3 years ago. Forced hot water system with three zones. Since I have no idea what I am talking about I will try to avoid speculation and just state what I know, I am hoping someone may have some advice about what to do from here because the professional I had in here today said he can find no problem.

Situation: About 4 to 5 gallons of water from the heating system on the basement floor a few nights ago. No obvious leaks, heating and hot water systems seam fine. The plumber said he had no clue what might have caused it, saw nothing wrong.

My wife reminded me that last season when the new boiler was used for the first cold season we had found water on the floor before. Nothing as bad as this time but getting progressively worse over the season with no obvious leak (fine and dry then go down one night and boom a puddle...by the end of the season the puddle was large but not 4 to 5 gallons large).

I have no idea where to go from here. Plumber can't see any problems but I don't think it is typical for progressively bigger puddles of water to show up on the floor?

I can see obvious corrosion and discoloration on the discharge pipes for the potable and forced hot water pressure/temp relief system. I can see bad seals and corrosion around the Taco 007-F5 circulator pump but not even a clue about these big discharges of water.

If anyone can help I would be more than happy to provide any additional information, pictures or videos.

Thanks

 

[oz-plumber]

See if you can see water leaking through the discharge pipes when the system is up to temperature.
This could mean that the expansion allowance in the system is faulty or not adequate or both.

As for corrosion around the pump, it could be that water is getting through when the gaskets are hot, or more likely, that someone has put leak sealer in the system.

It may be worth getting in someone to check the expansion tanks pressure, system inlet pressure and maybe add on extra expansion tank.

Systems shouldn't lose pressure through relief valves unless there is something wrong.

 

[Stigster]

My first place to check would be the Temperature/Pressure relief valve. You can prove or eliminate it from your fault-finding by taping something like the finger off a rubber glove over the end of the discharge pipe. If you later find it has blown off the pipe there's your problem. It saves you having to constantly monitor it for discharge.

If the Temperature/Pressure relief is passing water then you will need a heating engineer to investigate your expansion vessel, make sure it is adequately sized and charged to the correct pressure. Also making sure the diaphragm is intact and not letting water across to the air side of the vessel.

 

[centralheatking]

Hi, Homeowner not a plumber but I am having a problem I am hoping to get some advice on. House is 25 years old, we have been here for 11 years and replaced the boiler 3 years ago. Forced hot water system with three zones. Since I have no idea what I am talking about I will try to avoid speculation and just state what I know, I am hoping someone may have some advice about what to do from here because the professional I had in here today said he can find no problem.

Situation: About 4 to 5 gallons of water from the heating system on the basement floor a few nights ago. No obvious leaks, heating and hot water systems seam fine. The plumber said he had no clue what might have caused it, saw nothing wrong.

My wife reminded me that last season when the new boiler was used for the first cold season we had found water on the floor before. Nothing as bad as this time but getting progressively worse over the season with no obvious leak (fine and dry then go down one night and boom a puddle...by the end of the season the puddle was large but not 4 to 5 gallons large).

I have no idea where to go from here. Plumber can't see any problems but I don't think it is typical for progressively bigger puddles of water to show up on the floor?

I can see obvious corrosion and discoloration on the discharge pipes for the potable and forced hot water pressure/temp relief system. I can see bad seals and corrosion around the Taco 007-F5 circulator pump but not even a clue about these big discharges of water.

If anyone can help I would be more than happy to provide any additional information, pictures or videos.

Thanks

Hi Robert, we thrive on pictures at PG they are easy to upload even I do it ! it helps us get to the focus of your problem, after that a diagram may be needed, but put some good photos up
centralheatking

 

[Frelon]

Are you sure it is from the heating system and not water seeping into your cellar from the outside when the water table rises? We have flooding in many parts of the UK at the moment and many flooded basements (houses, towns etc)!

 

[Robertr4836]

Hi Robert, we thrive on pictures at PG they are easy to upload even I do it ! it helps us get to the focus of your problem, after that a diagram may be needed, but put some good photos up
centralheatking

Thank you. I will update with some pictures uploaded tomorrow (after midnight so I guess really later today).

I spoke to the technician and as far as I can recall he said he checked the temperature and pressure of the system and the pressure & temp relief valve but could not find any problems.

 

[Stigster]

Any further developments on this one OP?