Help me to find my leak

Hi all,

After my fun and games on Monday (you may have read) on trying to refill my system aftr draining down i know seem to be loosing pressure.

Since Monday tea time when i sorted the noisy pump and fan out i have lost about 1/4 bar of pressure.

Pressure bar not previously moved in 12 months prioir to Monday.

I have checked all rads and valves for dribbles of water and they all seem bone dry - no sign of damp carpets/floors.

I was undoing the auto release valve on the pump on Monday to clear air and just checked it and it wasnt done back up tight - can this be reason?

All pipe work downstairs is brand new and only 9 months old as are all 5 rads downstairs (fitted at same time)

Upstairs rads are old and use microbore but still see no sign of leakage.

Boiler pressure does not rocket out of control either when CH is on (have it on now as a test to try and move some water around and see any leaks)

Boiler is a Vaillant Turbomax Pro 24e

I read about flat diaphrams? Could this be issue? Are they easy to check?

Any advice you knowledgable folk can offer me please?

Regards

If there is an auto air vent in the boiler you could just have lost pressure as additional air was released. Fill the system and monitor the pressure. You may not have any leaks.

As above, it can take some time for an auto air vent to get all of the trapped air and gases out of a freshly filled system as the water chemistry settles down.
As long as the intervals between topping up keep getting longer, there's not a lot wrong

well from this morning to getting in from work this evening i have lost a needles width of pressure again.

I shut the automatic air release valve completely this morning so its not leaking through there.

I gather it should be permanently left open though from what the service manual for the boiler says

• The boiler is equipped with an automatic air release
valve. To allow this to vent the boiler, the cap top must
be slackened by 1 - 2 turns. (This cap must be left
slackened during operation to ensure any residual air
or system gases are released).

i topped up the water again via the filling loop until i could not hear anymore wather shooting up the pipes, it went deadly silent as though the system was brimmed!

However the pressure needle would not budge up at all, it stayed completly static! its hovering now at just below 1.
No matter how much water i put in the system it dont budge!!

Heating is working fine - nothing coming out of pressure relief pipe outside.

No air coming from any rads, just water firing out as it should.

No air coming from auto air valve on pump either.

Something just is not right as before when i have added water to system and blasted heating the presure guage will happliy rise to virtually 3 if its over pressurised but now it wont even reach the 1 bar line (just below it)

It rises only ever so slightly and i mean ever so slightly when the heating is on.

think i may have gotten confused with the "automatic air release valve"

I tightened up the tyre like valve on top of the pump.

Should the valve ontop of the pump stay shut?

Thats the only 1 i have played with.

thomo2710 said:

think i may have gotten confused with the "automatic air release valve"

I tightened up the tyre like valve on top of the pump.

Should the valve ontop of the pump stay shut?

Thats the only 1 i have played with.

Click to expand...

You sound a bit lost mate. Why not pay someone to sort it.

check blow off and drain outside..

mitch66 said:

You sound a bit lost mate. Why not pay someone to sort it.

Click to expand...

your right i am a little.

the boiler is due a service so somebody will be looking at it but id like to get to the bottom of losing the pressure myself as its something that could happen anytime and something i could potentially sort myself without calling pro's in every time.

This all stemed from me draining the system of my sludge remover and filling back up Monday so its all connected somewhere and as draining down is something any DIYer can confidently do (and i do like to try and learn things about stuff i dont already know) i thought i would try and ask some questions here.

ismellgas said:

check blow off and drain outside..

Click to expand...

by blow off i presume you meant he relief pipe that goes outside?

Ive sat and watched that for 10 mins at a time with heating on then off as it cools down and also at a random time when competely cold and i cant see any sign of drips or water leaving.

i was slacking the tyre valve cap on the pump itself, as can be seen in this picture on Monday to try and expel some air.

http://www.clickonbathrooms.co.uk/acatalog/VAILLANT_160928_PUMP_ASSEMBLY_.html

I have not touched this 1 at all:

http://www.directboilerparts.com/pr...421-pressure-relief-valve-part-no-190732.html

so the 2nd link is whats referred to as the automatic air relief valve?

you tried adding some leak sealer into the system to fix any small leaks???

http://www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.u...oduct_info&cPath=168_187_209&products_id=1190

Not many professionals would recommend using a leak sealer on any combi boiler!

i seen it work