Unvented Heating System, Low Pressure

[Martc7]

Recently the water pressure in our 3-storey house has become much lower than it was. This seems to have been happening over the last year to 18 months.

Our water supplier has been to investigate and measured the mains at 3 bar and the pressure at an outside tap at 2.5 bar. Apparently this is normal but at our internal taps and shower the pressure seems low. I'm now wondering if this could be caused by a problem in our unvented heating system.

Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks

 

[Agile]

It easily could if it affects the hot and bathroom cold supplies.

But have you not had your unvented cylinder serviced every year as required under the Building Regulations?

Tony

 

[Martc7]

Thanks. We have an annual service as part of a British Gas Boiler cover (Homecare 100), would this meet the regulatory requirement? The service engineer always looks in the airing cupboard (which is where the tank is) but I'm not sure how much they understand about unvented systems. Would it be better to get a specialist heating engineer to look at it? The system is about 12 years old - Vaillant boiler and an OSO tank.

 

[Agile]

To be servicing or inspecting the unvented they need the qualification for it.

I do not know what the BG practice is in respect of them.

Is it specifically mentioned on your Contract?

Perhaps you should ask them if they are servicing the unvented on their annual visits?

There is a filter which can become blocked.

Tony

 

[Martc7]

The "contract" is rather short and only seems to cover the boiler and controls. I'll ring them now and ask if it covers an unvented system. Thanks.

 

[Martc7]

British Gas say that it is part of the annual service to check the unvented system but whether this was done last November I don't know. Rather than wait for my next service would you recommend that I look for a specialist heating engineer to check it out?

 

[Agile]

If your contract covers the unvented then obviously you should ask them to deal with any problem which arises with it.

I was hoping that some of the engineers who work for BG would have commented on this.

Its not something we seem to read about very often here.

Tony

 

[Martc7]

The problem is that my Homecare 100 cover has a call-out charge so if it's not urgent I could leave it until November.

 

[Agile]

How much?

Its up to you to decide how urgent it is for you.

If £99 then it may be better to call a local with the qualification as might be about £84.

There is some risk that the filter part if it has not been regularly removed may break/stuck and have to be replaced and they are quite expensive at about £150 ! So might be better waiting!

Tony

 

[Martc7]

Yes, I think it's a £99 charge.

Looking through the BG Checklists the 2010 one says "Remade bubble in cylinder" which presumably would be after checking the unvented cylinder. None of the others seem to have any relevant comments.

I know this is an impossible question, but how likely do you think it is that the culprit is the unvented system? Would this also explain the 0.5 reduction in pressure between the mains water supply and our outside tap? If I call BG out and they fix the problem it would be worth the £99 but they might just say there's nothing wrong!

What do you think?

 

[Phill Peck]

Bg do not service unvented cylinders.

On homecare 100 you will have boiler and controls cover. It will not cover breakdowns on your unvented cylinder.

If you had a higher level of cover then the cylinder would be covered. But still not serviced.
I'm not sure why but afaik it is not something they do.
I believe most if not all Bg engineers are qualified to work on unvented cylinders

The comment by the engineer"recharged bubble in cylinder" would have been either a helpful engineer or one who didn't check your level of cover on his laptop

 

[Newboy]

I could leave it until November.

At which point most heating engineers will be flat out - get it checked out now

 

[Martc7]

It seems odd that British Gas don't have a service for unvented systems. So it would seem that to meet the regulations I should get a qualified engineer in every year to check the system?

I can live with low pressure for a while but do you think my system could pose a safety risk?

 

[Martc7]

I'd really appreciate an answer to these two questions if you have time:

- To meet the regulations should I get a qualified engineer in every year to check the system?
- Currently, do you think my system could pose a safety risk?

Thanks.