Hi all, the circuit that heats my HW tank has developed a leak. What are my options for fixing it?
* The leak is in the copper pipe run between the boiler and the tank - i.e. not at the connection to the boiler nor at the cylinder.
* It only drips through the ceiling when the boiler fires up to heat the HW. At other times, either the leak is sufficiently slow that it doesn't drip through the ceiling, or the pressure is sufficiently low that it doesn't leak at all. I haven't cut the ceiling yet to inspect.
* The boiler is a Vaillant ecoTec plus 630.
* My system is an unvented system.
One fix would presumably be to fix the pipework with solder (either splice in a new section of pipe in the case of a rupture, or resolder in the case of a poorly soldered connection).
Q1) Is this the likely best course of action, or should I consider other reliable potential fixes?
Q2) If I need to solder, how do I go about draining and subsequently refilling the indirect HW heating circuit?
Q3) Are there any compliance considerations for this kind of work - Gas Safe etc?
* The leak is in the copper pipe run between the boiler and the tank - i.e. not at the connection to the boiler nor at the cylinder.
* It only drips through the ceiling when the boiler fires up to heat the HW. At other times, either the leak is sufficiently slow that it doesn't drip through the ceiling, or the pressure is sufficiently low that it doesn't leak at all. I haven't cut the ceiling yet to inspect.
* The boiler is a Vaillant ecoTec plus 630.
* My system is an unvented system.
One fix would presumably be to fix the pipework with solder (either splice in a new section of pipe in the case of a rupture, or resolder in the case of a poorly soldered connection).
Q1) Is this the likely best course of action, or should I consider other reliable potential fixes?
Q2) If I need to solder, how do I go about draining and subsequently refilling the indirect HW heating circuit?
Q3) Are there any compliance considerations for this kind of work - Gas Safe etc?