Expansion tank help!

[irvin38a]

Hi, I have an almost 3 year old Vaillant EcoTec boiler with Solar panels for hot water. I live in a new build house and the whole thing was installed when the house was built.

Yesterday, I was in the loft when I noticed a damp patch under what I now know is the expansion tank (I know nothing about heating/boilers etc!). I also noticed that there is a gauge above the expansion tank which is on 0 bar.

I have done a bit of looking around on the net and decided to check the pressure via the tyre type valve at the bottom of the tank. This is reading 2 bar.

What I need to know is, is this something I should be worried about or is it normal? If it is not normal, what is the recommended action?

The boiler pressure is spot on and the heating and hot water is running fine.

Here are some pics...

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• irvin38a
• 25 Nov 2013
• 1

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• irvin38a
• 25 Nov 2013
• 1

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• irvin38a
• 25 Nov 2013
• 1

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• irvin38a
• 25 Nov 2013
• 1

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• irvin38a
• 25 Nov 2013
• 1

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• irvin38a
• 25 Nov 2013
• 1

Thanks in advance.[/img]

 

[ianmcd]

You can not test the expansion vessel pressure without releasing all the system pressure and leaving a drain point open while you check the pressure, it has been covered endless times on here so look in the WIKI, if you do not follow ALL the steps then no point in doing anything at all

 

[Boilerman2]

That is the expansion vessel for your Solar Thermal, looking at the trac pipe fitting on top it looks like the Glycol has been lost hence the lack of pressure in the solar circuit, a flushing/charging pump will be required to refill the system with polypropylene Glycol after the leak on the vessel has been fixed of course!

 

[newbuildinstaller]

You can not test the expansion vessel pressure without releasing all the system pressure and leaving a drain point open while you check the pressure, it has been covered endless times on here so look in the WIKI, if you do not follow ALL the steps then no point in doing anything at all

Wrong

You can remove the vessel, the brass fitting on top is a self sealing valve that allows the vessel to be removed without a drain down

Then test away