F&E Tank constantly filling!

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Here's a problem that's confusing me...

We've had soem builders working on a room we're turning into a kitchen. Lots of heavy work, removing floor, render etc. In the process, they have removed the old rad, cut out some old pipework and capped the ends.

Since yesterday afternoon our Feed and Expansion tank for the Central Heating has been filling with a steady trickle. So over 24rs that's got to be alot of water. So there could be a few causes. I've eliminated a few:

1. faulty ball cock: this would presumably result in the tank filling and overflowing. This isn't happening. Water level is still well below overflow and at normal level.

2. Air In system being replaced: This is probably the most likely candidate, as i'm pretty sure there was air in the rad they removed and also for a while the boiler was cutting out. However i've bled all the rads (no air) my thinking is that after over 24hrs surely any air would have worked its way out with the amount of water that must have entered the system.

3. Water Leak: I'm coming to the worrying conclusion that if the above 2 aren't happening then there must be a water leak. However i've inspected the house and can't see any signs of water leaking. I've been through pretty carefully and would have thought that the for amount of water going in any leak would be pretty obvious! There's only 2 places i can't follow the pipework. One is where it disappears under a concrete floor and the other is from the 1st floor down vertically though a downstairs wall.

All radiators apart from one seem to working although i'm confused why this one isn't, possibly something's shifted and it's blocked? There are a couple of very slightly leaky valves but we're talking minor drops, definitely nothing close to a trickle. The other thing is that not all rads are warming quite as much as usual but apart from the one they all have heat. I may need to rebalance the system.

So i'm left completely flumexed! HELP! We're on a water meter so don't want to waste water unnecessarily.

Thanks, i hope someone out there can shed some light on what might be causing this.
 
Thanks for the help. I can't find any leaks where it's been capped. I should probably mention that one of the main pipes from upstairs that feeds downstairs rads is making a trickling noise which i don't remember hearing before.
 
Try turning the good rads off and see if the bad ones warm up if so it may be a balancing issue, it might also force the potential blockage that may be stopping that one rad from heating up.Also try holding a magnet where your cold feed from your feed and expansion tank enters the flow from the boiler that may be blocked which would explain the need to constantly bleed your rads.
 
Thanks for the advice. I shut off the dodgy rad completely because actually the valve was seeping a little. The other rads have warmed up fairly well but i'm still getting the trickle into the tank.
I don't know what you mean with the magnet?
 
It's the cold water feed attached to the ball cock. Ball cock is working ok, because if i pull it up slightly it shuts the valve off.
 
Bend the ballcock arm down a little that should stop it if you say the water stops trickling when you hold the arm up.
 
If the ball cock is letting water out and stops when you lift the arm, then you have a leak on the system. You could have a leak under the floor boards. Tie up the ball cock and see if the expansion tank empties.

Andy
 
Thanks Andy, yeah that's my worry! I'm fortunate that we are working on the house and can access beneath all floorboards. I've checked almost all the pipework and ceilings etc. I can't see any signs of leaking water. I'll try tying the ball cock up overnight and see what happens. A few questions though...

- Is it possible that there could be a large amount of air slowly escaping out the system?

- If so, couldn't this cause a drop of water level even if ball cock is tied up?

- If there was a leak in the pipe set in the concrete floor how would i be able to tell?

- Is there a way of testing a system to find the location of leaks?

Thank, really appreciate all the advice.
 
Just been up to tie up the ball cock and measured water in FE tank. only a couple of cm! i pushed the ball cock down and water gushed into the tank filling it up very quickly to normal level. I've still got the trickle same as before but is it possible that for some reason the tank has emptied (maybe if an airlock was released). The ball cock has jammed and so for the last couple of days the system has been filling with a mixture of water and air?
If so presumably it'll hopefully fill and sort itself out. I've still got a trickling sound from pipe but hopefully the air will circulate and be replaced by water this time?
 
If you tie up the ball cock you will have to turn off your heating and hot water or it may run dry.

Andy
 

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