C
ct8282
Hi peeps. I'm new here and have stumbled across this forum in a desperate effort to try and resolve the ongoing nightmare of my leaking heating system.
Cutting a 7 year story as short as possible then....
I came home from work about 6.5 years ago to find my boiler making a hell of a noise. When I opened the cupboard door in a panic I soon realised that the pressure of the system was '0' and the boiler was trying to run but couldn't circulate anything. I managed to find the refill loop and topped the system up. Things carried on as normal for a couple of weeks until the problem occurred again. I realised there was a leak so I called out a plumber who filled the system with 2 bottles of leak sealant. This seemed to fix the problem so I forgot about it and got on with my life.
Summer came and the heating system was not being used as to be expected. Then winter came and it was time for the boiler to start getting it's usual daily pounding. Within a couple of weeks I noticed the pressure had almost completely dropped again and it has been a battle of topping up the system periodically ever since. Sometimes the pressure will drop only 0.5 bar in the space of2 or 3 weeks. Sometimes it will drop almost to 0 in the space of 1 or 2 days. It varies and there doesn't appear to be any consistency at all.
I called in a plumber and a consultant chap to investigate and they spent nearly a whole day isolating all of the legs from the manifold, and used a device which pressurises the leg and then you wait to see if a pressure drop is observed. None of the legs showed up a pressure drop and the consultant chappy started saying that I might have a leak inside the boiler itself. However, they investigated the prv and drainage pipe and couldn't find any problems there either. Based on the characteristics of the pressure increase when the heating comes on (0.5 bar increase) they concluded that the expansion vessel is not to blame either. I have always been convinced that the leak is in the pipe work somewhere as my immediate neighbour had similar issues and they eventually found a poor joint behind the wall of their bedroom radiator.
So, all this work but the problem remains! However, I have now sold the flat and the new occupants are due to move in to the property in a few weeks and I am desperate to get this resolved before we exchange as I couldn't bare the thought of them inheriting this problem. They are first time buyers and are young and don't have much money. I want to do the right thing but also need to get moved out asap as my partner is expecting our first baby in a few months and we are trying to purchase a house.
So, tonight I have spent hours trawling the web and have found this forum which has had some interesting info. I also called a specialist leak detection company who gave me advice over the phone. They said that based on the inconsistent characteristics of the pressure drop this would certainly imply that the leak is inside the boiler. They told me to pressurize the system, close of the flow and return pipes to the boiler (using the quarter turn screw) and then watch to see if the pressure still drops. They said that if it does this proves that the leak is inside the boiler.
I have done this and the pressure dropped about 0.2 bar in around 90 mins. Does this mean that I have at least identified that the leak is indeed inside the boiler???
Any expert advice would be greatly appreciated as this has been plaguing me for so many years now. :sad3:
Cutting a 7 year story as short as possible then....
I came home from work about 6.5 years ago to find my boiler making a hell of a noise. When I opened the cupboard door in a panic I soon realised that the pressure of the system was '0' and the boiler was trying to run but couldn't circulate anything. I managed to find the refill loop and topped the system up. Things carried on as normal for a couple of weeks until the problem occurred again. I realised there was a leak so I called out a plumber who filled the system with 2 bottles of leak sealant. This seemed to fix the problem so I forgot about it and got on with my life.
Summer came and the heating system was not being used as to be expected. Then winter came and it was time for the boiler to start getting it's usual daily pounding. Within a couple of weeks I noticed the pressure had almost completely dropped again and it has been a battle of topping up the system periodically ever since. Sometimes the pressure will drop only 0.5 bar in the space of2 or 3 weeks. Sometimes it will drop almost to 0 in the space of 1 or 2 days. It varies and there doesn't appear to be any consistency at all.
I called in a plumber and a consultant chap to investigate and they spent nearly a whole day isolating all of the legs from the manifold, and used a device which pressurises the leg and then you wait to see if a pressure drop is observed. None of the legs showed up a pressure drop and the consultant chappy started saying that I might have a leak inside the boiler itself. However, they investigated the prv and drainage pipe and couldn't find any problems there either. Based on the characteristics of the pressure increase when the heating comes on (0.5 bar increase) they concluded that the expansion vessel is not to blame either. I have always been convinced that the leak is in the pipe work somewhere as my immediate neighbour had similar issues and they eventually found a poor joint behind the wall of their bedroom radiator.
So, all this work but the problem remains! However, I have now sold the flat and the new occupants are due to move in to the property in a few weeks and I am desperate to get this resolved before we exchange as I couldn't bare the thought of them inheriting this problem. They are first time buyers and are young and don't have much money. I want to do the right thing but also need to get moved out asap as my partner is expecting our first baby in a few months and we are trying to purchase a house.
So, tonight I have spent hours trawling the web and have found this forum which has had some interesting info. I also called a specialist leak detection company who gave me advice over the phone. They said that based on the inconsistent characteristics of the pressure drop this would certainly imply that the leak is inside the boiler. They told me to pressurize the system, close of the flow and return pipes to the boiler (using the quarter turn screw) and then watch to see if the pressure still drops. They said that if it does this proves that the leak is inside the boiler.
I have done this and the pressure dropped about 0.2 bar in around 90 mins. Does this mean that I have at least identified that the leak is indeed inside the boiler???
Any expert advice would be greatly appreciated as this has been plaguing me for so many years now. :sad3: