Bang, Bang!!

[earwig999]

We have just brought our ex council house and had nothing but trouble with the heating ever since.

It started with a leak above our Ideal icos M3080 boiler. There are two pipes that come from the top of it. One has a drain cock on and the other has a nut with a hole in the middle. ??? Anyway it was the second one that was leaking so we got the insurance to come out and stop the leak but that was all they would do. Ever since when the heating comes on we get really loud BANGS. These go on every 8 minutes or so. I have felt all the rads and they feel hot top and bottom. I bled them all and just got water out. I found a little air release twisty thing in the airing cupboard so I gave that a twist and it hissed, then psssd all over the floor. I tightened it up but still BANGING. It seems to be getting worse. I have signed up with Powergen on their maintenence scheme but that doesn't kick in for 30 days, so now we have to be kept awake all night long or freeze!!

I have also turned down the pumps. There are two controls on the pump one was set to 2 and the other to 3 so I turned them both to 1. And have checked all the thermostatic controls on the rads and they all work fine.

Please help. I'm afraid we may have air but where??? If any can offer advise to me I would be most thankful. If anyone is in the know around the Derby area maybe you could show me what it is. Thanks.

 

[stanrog]

Sounds as if the nut tightened by the insurance man was an air pressure relief value and has been overtightened, I am assuming the leak was from the hole not the actual connection. With the system switched off, try loosening until it leaks, (ie back to its original state) then tighten gradually to stop leak and then add a bit more of a turn (hopefully the turns to tighten will be less than those just done to loosen). Switch on system and let it run.

 

[chrishutt]

Sounds as if the nut tightened by the insurance man was an air pressure relief value

It sounds like an old style safety valve. It may be that the "engineer" who stopped the leak was a bit clueless and has sealed it shut, rendering your heating system a potential bomb! Do not use the boiler until you have had a competent engineer look at it! It sounds as if the boiler is overheating already (reset pumps to higher speeds!) so it really is a potentially dangerous situation.

 

[earwig999]

I am hoping this is not as dangerous as you say.

We can't be without heating in this weather!!

I took some photos of it to show you but I can't upload them onto here??

Well now it is leaking a whole lot worse. Constant in fact. But it is coming from the inside and not the connection so I am guessing it is open or the water would not come out??

Any ideas for a quick fix. Banging has been getting worse too.

 

[chrishutt]

Do not use the boiler until you have had a competent engineer look at it!