Any central heating engineers on line??????

[mckenzie]

I realise that this message is only going to relevant to few mumsnetters who either are heating engineers or who have a partner who is a heating engineer but here goes......

Back in March/April we had a problem with our boiler losing pressure. The screen shoing the number of bar would start flashing about 2.0 right down to 0.6, the red light would come on and we'd have no hot water or heating. We got the problem fixed by a local plumber recommended to us. It has been fine ever since. Or so we thought.
We put the heating on for the first time this weekend and the problem has returned.

Now that would tell me that there could be a leak in one of the radiators yes?? or no? When the fault occurs we go into the airing cupboard and turn a key that puts more water into the system. I can't find a puddle anywhere indicating a leak so far although I am about to go and do some more checking.

Any ideas please very gratefully received. The call out charge for the boiler company is £250 but the fault might not be with the boiler!!

TIA

[lilymolly]

Hi dp a heating engineer- just out walking the dogs in the rain

I will ask him to reply when he gets in

he loves these type of threads make him feel needed i suppose

[CarGirl]

It does sound like you must have a very slow leak somewhere.......been there experienced that!

[mckenzie]

thanks very much both of you for the replies. I'll await his reply and questions lilymolly. Cheers

[CarGirl]

Lilymolly what combi boilers would her recommend for a small 3 bed house, we have 8 small-medium radiators that are 6 years old -just to make him feel more useful

We have a 6 year old ariston that is fine but we need to relocate it so thought we should possibly get a new one as we live in a hard water area?

[lilymolly]

Mckenzie

there is a pipe which leads outside from the boiler- see if the water is discharging here.

If it is the first time you have put heating on it could be just air in radiators- try bleeding them with a bleed key from a DIY store and see if there is any air in rads then top pressure back up.

Does not sound like their is a leak on the system if it has held its pressure all summer

come back to me with the pipe question.

CarGirl

Personal preferance but usually a woscester or a valant boiler

Hes gone to work now, but will be back later

LM x

[CarGirl]

Thanks for the advice! Will bear it in mind.

[mckenzie]

hi LM

It's difficult to tell if water has been coming out of the pipe because it's been raining here most of the day. The forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week is quite good though so I'll look agian in the morning. I put my finger inside it and a drop came out but are you looking for more than a tiny drop? If it's dry tomorrow will I be looking for a puddle on the floor or should I put some kitchen roll around the pipe to see if that is damp?

I'll get DH to sort the rads - he (being a typical man and not liking to be told what to do) is questioning why air in the rads would affect the water pressure??? But he is a publisher, not a heating engineer so .
Thanks again LM and LM's DH.

[lilymolly]

pressure would drop cos there is air in radiators - tell your dh to butt out or pay for a BT engineer

Will ask dp about amount of water from pipe when he gets back

[mckenzie]

thanks again LM

[mashedbanana]

we are having the same problem the pressure stays when you just use hot water but if you have heating on then when its switched off pressure drops to zero.lilymolly does this mean air in radiators they are all getting hot as if its a different problem.sorry mckenzie i've hijacked your thread.

[ManxMum]

Have you done any DIY recently?
We had the same problem and it took us a year to realise that DH (in his infinate wisdom) had screwed through a central heating pipe whilst putting up a kitchen cupboard and of course the screw caused a slow leak, virtually unnoticeable. Different story when he took the screw out though......

or it could be a slow leak inside the boiler itself, as my parents had.

[lilymolly]

mckenzie
LM DP here- water from pipe outside will be a brownish colour so you will be able to tell this from rain water.
Pressurise the boiler back up tonight with the heating switched off then turn the heating on and wait for the boiler to get up to temperature, then if it is a problem with the boiler the water will shoot out of the pressure pipe outside- if not it may just mean that the raditators need venting/bleeding.

Mashedbanana check the pipe outside the same way as described to mckenzie

£25 per hour for advice

[mckenzie]

hiya LM's DP. DH has bled the rads (or so he says ).
I've just turned the heated off completely and pressurised the boiler to the correct level. Do you want me to now turn the heating back on and watch the tap or should i wiat until the morning?

PS. £25 per hour is fine by me . Name your chosen charity. Thank you very much.

[lilymolly]

if you can be arsed do it now and tell us if there is any water coming out of pipe-

let us know how fast it loses pressure

As I am trustee of riding for the disabled it would have to be this

Only kidding btw x

[jenkel]

sorry to jump in on this, we are having problems with our central heating, think they need to be balanced????, but we do have water coming out of the pipe from the boiler outside, does this mean something?

[mckenzie]

I used to take my pony to a riding for the disabled group back in 198........... We both loved it. I can't remember why we stopped which sounds awful. Anyway, off to do the heating!!!

[lilymolly]

Water out of pipe means boiler is broken and needs fixing- what make boiler is is Jenkel

[lilymolly]

Ahhhhh my horse is at my local RDA whilst I am pregnant

[mckenzie]

We pressurised to 1.5 which is where the guide mark is (we assume it's a guide mark). The heating has come on, the guage has gone up and the boiler is showing 45, 46, 47 and rising. Nothing out of the outside pipe so far. Dh said that he thinks we would know if it was leaking dirty water as it's very close to the wall and we would see the marks on the bricks????

[lilymolly]

yeah dp mentioned the dirty water on the wall

so is the pressure staying up or is it dropping?

[mckenzie]

so far the pressure is rising. And I'm now in a t shirt and shorts

[lilymolly]

Uh oh is it making a funny noise- like a kettle?
it will rise but should not go into the red
it should stop before and not drop

[mckenzie]

it's settled on 2 and stayed there. The red line is at 3. Nothing much happening at all, which is of course always the way!!! I'll turn it off again tonight when we go to bed and remember to monitor what happens in the morning when i turn it back on. I really apprecaite all your help LM and from your DP. If you ever need a shipping magazine published just give us a shout and DH will recipricate!

[lilymolly]

Oh glad its settled thats what it should do.

Maybe the bleeding of the radiators was enough.

Can't envisage needing a shipping magazine in the very near future but never say never eh

Hope it is all ok

DP fecked off to pub with neighbour now so not much help

Will check thread tomorrow to see if you need any more help

[mckenzie]

thanks LM. Good night