HELP PLEASE (BOILER PRESSURE)

[philbradford]

I HAVE BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY BOILER FOR APPROX 3 MONTHS I HAVE A POTTERTON 80e AND WAS INSTALLED 17.6.97 AS FAR AS I AM AWARE ITS LAST SERVICE WAS 2 YEARS AGO.
MY PROBLEM STARTED WITH THE BOILER CUTTING OUT WITH A RED WARNING LIGHT SAYING LOW SYSTEM PRESSURE I TRIED TURNING IT ON AND OFF A FEW TIMES AND IT CAME BACK ON.THIS HAPPENED A FEW TIMES BEFORE I CALLED SOMEONE OUT THEY INFORMED ME THAT THE PRESSURE SWITCH WAS BROKE THEY REPLACED IT AND CLEANED OUT THE PIPES.AFTER APPROX 1 WEEK THE SAME LIGHT KEPT COMING ON AND WOULD NOT GO OFF BY JUST TURNING IT ALL OFF AND ON AGAIN.I THEN TRIED TURNING IT ALL OFF AND AT THE SIDE OF THE BOILER IS A VALVE I TURNED THAT AND IT MAKES A HISSING NOISE AS THOUGH IT IS RELEASING PRESSURE AND THEN TURNED IT BACK AGAIN. I TURNED ON THE BOILER AND IT ALL WORKS AGAIN. I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR ABOUT A MONTH NOW.
THE HEATING WATER ETC HAS ALL BEEN FINE UNTIL LAST FEW DAYS THE DOWN STAIRS RADIATORS HAVE NOT BEEN HEATING UP properley AND HAVE NOTICED THERE IS WATER LEAKING FROM SOME OF THE PIPES UNDER THE BOILER.
I HAVE HAD SOMEONE LOOK AT IT AND HE SAYS THAT THERE IS LOTS OF ISSUES AND THAT I SHOULD LOOK TO GET A NEW BOILER I HAVE ALSO SPOKE TO THE LAD WHO WHO CAME 1ST AND HE SEEMS TO THINK IT JUST NEEDS A GOOD CLEAN AND SERVICE AND SOMEBODY ELSE HAS SAID IT COULD BE SOMETHING ELSE.AS YOU CAN TELL I HAVE NOT GOT A CLUE ABOUT BOILERS AND IF ANYONE HAS HAD THESE PROBLEMS OR CAN GIVE ME SOME ADVICE I WOULD BE SO greatful AS I dont KNOW WHAT TO DO.................... THANKS

 

[landyandy]

Phil.

You need to turn off your caps lock.

Andy.

 

[landyandy]

Phil.

You need to investigate further where the water under your boiler is comming from.

Andy.

 

[philbradford]

Phil.

I CANT HELP SHOUTING I AM ANGRY.
Got someone coming round in the week will keep you informed if you dont mind scared i am going to have my pants pulled down cos i dont know anything about boilers.
The small leak and i mean small like condensation build up is coming from the valve i have been turning next to the boiler.
Thanks for responding any any advice would be helpful cheers.

 

[kevplumb]

boiler pressure is

btw dont start shouting on here pardner they divvent like it

 

[landyandy]

Phil.

What is the pressure guage showing?(under the right hand side of your boiler).

Andy.

 

[advancedplumber]

don't go changing the boiler just like that cos someone has just come off the street and told you so. that would be a very drastict messure. if they are going to do something, get them to explain what they propose to do, why and how this will help solve this problem. if they are unable to explain things to you then they are what we call rip off merchants as the guys here have quite rightly said you need to pay attention to this loss of water your having at your boiler. there should be a fill loop under your boiler to fill your heating system ( radiators) with water. its normally black. there might be a flexable hose disconnected, you will need to reconnect this , there should only be one fitting to screw it onto. when you open this you should hear a hissing sound. this is the mains water supply filling your system but more importantly you will see the visible pressure gauge needle rising, open this valve until the needle indicater reaches the number one, then close it off.this indicates you have one bar of water pressure in your system. if your where turning a red knob and the pressure was dropping then this is the pressure relief valve. do not operate this again. if you go over slightly don't worry, if the boiler over pressurises it will discharge the excess water by the pressure relief valve itself. thats the basics . if you have the pressure set and you still having bother get back and let us know more. if you have a leak in the system then you will lose pressure and the built in pressure switch in the boiler will lock the boiler out . find out where the water under the boiler is coming from and fix it.

 

[philbradford]

Phil.

What is the pressure guage showing?(under the right hand side of your boiler).

Andy.

pressure is showing at the moment, red needle 1.5 black 2 but i have seen the black up to 3 before i have the heating on at moment and the water is great and upstairs radiators are fine but the down stairs ones dont seem to be coming on

 

[Steve69the69Gas]

Do you have a dripping hot tap?

 

[philbradford]

The valve i have been turning was not the pressure release valve it is on the left hand side of the boiler just below it attached to the pipes at one end and a flexi pipe on the other. The moisture i was talking about is coming from this valve but it is not dripping or anything just a bit of moisture like condensation.
I have found the pressure release valve you were talking about and released it so the black needle is at 1 (previosly 2.5) i have turned the heating on and its slowly gone up to the other needle which is at 1.5.
I am still concerned about why the heating is working upstairs the water is fine but yet the downstairs dont seem to be working properly.
ps thanks for replying

 

[philbradford]

Do you have a dripping hot tap?

I dont have a dripping hot tap but its funny you say that cos my shower for quite a while has been dripping.Do you think this could have something to do with the boiler problems.

 

[Steve69the69Gas]

If its the hot side then yes, please isolate this if you can and see what happens.My ex wife had same thing last sunday, stopped slightly dripping hot tap and voila heating worked.