HELP - Boiler is leaking!

[Lizbiz89]

I've woken to sort my kids out and I've come downstairs to find my boiler is leaking quite a lot of water. Does this qualify calling out an emergency boiler engineer in the night or can I leave it until tomorrow? I've put a towel and buckets underneath the leak.

I would probably wait until morning

see if you can turn of the water at the mains and turn off the boiler

google YouTube videos to help you locate these things using your boiler brand and model etc

Water mains tap often under kitchen sink and I’ve seen them like a Round stop cock or a lever type handle

Three types of water could come out of your boiler (depends on the type).

i) Heating cooling circuit. This is the water that is heated in a closed loop to go to your radiators and hot water tank. It is normally quite dirty and black but can be clean if replaced recently. I don't know how much water is in a circuit (depends on the number of radiators) but could be quite a few litres. One way you might be able to stop at least some of this water leaking is to close off the valves to all your radiators. This will lock most of the water in the radiators and prevent it coming out. The only water that should then come out is in the pipes. Be careful to note the radiator valve positions if they have been flow balanced. You should be able to see a pressure drop in the heating cooling circuit if this water is leaking.

ii) Cooling circuit refill. This is water that comes from outside to fill up and pressurise the closed loop heating cooling circuit. This is normally controlled via a valve below the boiler. If this valve is leaking then it could leak a lot of water because it is connected directly to the mains water supply. Water should be clear and not dirty (mains water).

iv) Condensate. This is water generated inside the boiler from burning the gas. It's possible that it can build up inside the boiler if there is a fault and at some point start leaking out. I would be surprised if a huge amount could leak because there is not that much room for it in the boiler and there would be no pressure behind it, but I guess you could get a good few litres.

Anyway, sounds like you need a heating engineer.