BAXi 80 e CONSTANTLY LOSING PRESSURE - CONFUSED.

[grill]

Hi all,

I am a fledgling corgi man and have been called out to a Baxi Combi Boiler 80 e which is constantly losing pressure i.e. from 1.0 bar down to 0.2 in a couple of days.

I work for myself so dont have the safety net of work colleagues with years of experience!!!! Hence my plea for help!!

Checked Expansion vessel charge - 1.0 bar
No leaks from PRV-
Pressurised system to 2.5 bar and checked all rad joints etc for leaks. None evident.
Thought there was air trapped in the system as the highest rad wasnt heating fully. Closed off all other rads and forced heat up to it.
Automatic Air vent is open.
Checked all rad keys to make sure they were fully tightened and not drawing in air. Re topped up system.

The system has a secondary expansion vessel fitted as there are lots of rads.

So where else could i be getting air in/losing water?? A lot of the pipes are concreted into the ground so it hard ro check for leaks apart from rad joints.

Could it be a leak in the combustion chamber which is evaporating??? How do you check this??

Any other things i should be looking for??

Top forum by the way. It has pulled me out of a few holes so far!!!!

Grill

 

[HarrogateGas]

YOu answered it really..........proberbly a leak on the ground floor.

If you want to prove the heat ex is not leaking isolate the boiler overnight and do not use, if the pressure remains the same your boiler is definatly not leaking and you have a leak on the system somewhere.

 

[tabs]

Losing that much pressure I would assume it was the prv - I know you say there was no leaks from that but I take it you didn't stand there for two days keeping an eye on it? hehe. Thats a lot of water to lose and not notice where its going if its not the prv.

 

[HarrogateGas]

Tape a sandwich bag around the discharge pipe out side and leave it for a day..........if you have water in the bingo thats where the water is going.

 

[grill]

Thanks guys,

Ill give those a whirl and see what is happening. Is there any other way that air could be getting into the system??

grill

 

[grill]

Yes im back again!!!

It appears the pressure loss problem has sorted itself out. Stays at one and goes up to 2 bar when operating.

Now the bloody thing is making clanking noise when running and a water dripping noise that the owner compares to Chinese water torture.

Would this be down to scale on the HEAT exchanger?? Do i need to drain downa nd refill with fernox (anti scale solution) She ran the boiler for a while with naff all pressure in the sytem also.

I wouldnt mind being called back but she is my mate and isnt even paying me!!!! The cost of education!!!

Heading round there tommorrow night. Is the boiler hurting itself further running like this??

Yours faithfully!!!!

Grill.

 

[2face]

golden rule being broken here m8 .. do not work for friends or family ..

 

[grill]

That is one boiler servicing lesson i have learnt very very quickly. Dont help that she is a nutter and cant evn explain what the noises are like. Maybe she is imagining them!!!!

 

[grill]

Hi again guys,

Went back to the house with the noisy boiler and guess what. It wasnt bloody noisy. The pump was humming a bit but then noticed one of the securing screws was loose so tightened that it sorted the problem.

ANyway i was there for about 20 mins and it that time i noticed 2 small drips of water coming out of the DHW flow switch. Basically where the wee armature comes out of it to make the switch. Does this need to be replaced straight away or can it be left like this???

Dont know how long this has happened but there was a bit of staining below it that i only picked up on tonight. It obviously isnt "pi$%ing out of it" but may becaome a problem. FIx now and forget or get called back later with a load of shot electrics???

Oh and teh pressure problem is now sorted also.

No more work for mates!!!!

Grill.