Worcester combi boiler losing pressure - when to check?

[Ken Buchanan]

Hi.

I have a Worcester combi boiler in an infrequently occupied holiday let in Scotland. It frequently shows low pressure on the boiler and has occasionally over the years stopped due to low pressure. Topping it up seems to solve the problem for anything between months and days. If there was a leak then the downstairs neighbour would let me know soon enough!! I live in terror of it dying and the pipes freezing in the middle of winter.

It just recently dawned on me that maybe I am fretting over nothing. What I realised was that the pressure might only be usefully read when the boiler is on. While it was off the pressure was at zero but after running it for about 5 minutes it was happily in the green (sorry, don't have any accurate figures as I am not there right now).

But in general, what reading might I expect when the boiler is off?

Thanks in anticipation.

Ken

 

[Aire]

When the boiler is off and system cold you should expect the pressure to be around the 1bar mark.

 

[king of pipes]

Get it serviced Ken any good engineer will know what up with it, while he's there get him to drain the system flush it and refill adding a central heating anti freeze you could also have a smart control fitted so you can monitor what the boilers doing and turn it on adjust the temperatures etc from your phone or tablet when your not there . Cheers kop

 

[pmplum]

Hi.

I have a Worcester combi boiler in an infrequently occupied holiday let in Scotland. It frequently shows low pressure on the boiler and has occasionally over the years stopped due to low pressure. Topping it up seems to solve the problem for anything between months and days. If there was a leak then the downstairs neighbour would let me know soon enough!! I live in terror of it dying and the pipes freezing in the middle of winter.

It just recently dawned on me that maybe I am fretting over nothing. What I realised was that the pressure might only be usefully read when the boiler is on. While it was off the pressure was at zero but after running it for about 5 minutes it was happily in the green (sorry, don't have any accurate figures as I am not there right now).

But in general, what reading might I expect when the boiler is off?

Thanks in anticipation.

Ken

The pressure should be between 1 and 1.5 when the system is off and the system cold
Obviously hot water expands so pressure will rise when the heating is on.
When was it last serviced ?

 

[Rob Foster]

Hi.

I have a Worcester combi boiler in an infrequently occupied holiday let in Scotland. It frequently shows low pressure on the boiler and has occasionally over the years stopped due to low pressure. Topping it up seems to solve the problem for anything between months and days. If there was a leak then the downstairs neighbour would let me know soon enough!! I live in terror of it dying and the pipes freezing in the middle of winter.

It just recently dawned on me that maybe I am fretting over nothing. What I realised was that the pressure might only be usefully read when the boiler is on. While it was off the pressure was at zero but after running it for about 5 minutes it was happily in the green (sorry, don't have any accurate figures as I am not there right now).

But in general, what reading might I expect when the boiler is off?

Thanks in anticipation.

Ken

You could try the MFD from Flowflex this unit will automatically top up the heating system but maintain 1.5 bar and no more. It has automatic flood protection as part of the unit. It is a 5 min diy fit It is to be renamed Top Up Mate in Jan 2019....Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[Ken Buchanan]

When the boiler is off and system cold you should expect the pressure to be around the 1bar mark.

OK, thanks all!

 

[SimonG]

You could try the MFD from Flowflex this unit will automatically top up the heating system but maintain 1.5 bar and no more. It has automatic flood protection as part of the unit. It is a 5 min diy fit It is to be renamed Top Up Mate in Jan 2019....Rob Foster aka centralheatking

Auto top up is just masking a problem. Find the problem. Fix the problem.

Sounds like the op has quite a simple issue that a proper service will cover. Or it would when I'm servicing a boiler on a sealed system.