I read threads on pressure problems with new Worcester Bosch

[doggyvonne]

It has been suggested that if the boiler is found not to be cause of pressure loss then it may be a leak somewhere unseen or under screed. One suggestion was to put perfume or dye into the rads but where would this be poured into in a combi system?
Our problem is if we dont keep the boiler calling for heat ( with thermostat turned down in hot weather) we lose pressure and have to keep topping it up. Our brand new WB boiler is in the attic and we are getting too old to get up there..it's a real nuisance as my husband just had a knee op. Worcester Bosch have isolated the valves so that during next week we will have hot water only to see if it still happens but to my amazement the WB guy expects us to turn the valves back on again ourselves??? Also when it was installed by an independent gas safe engineer last September it burst a few pipes as the pressure was too much for 70s copper pipes. We understand we must now live with threat of more burst pipes until the isolation check has been carried out. We already had one insurance claim for a naffed ceiling in the process of all this and I am wondering whether we will still be covered by insurance if more pipes burst. I wish we had kept the old but uneconomical boiler now )o:

 

[Terry lambert]

If it's only a very gradual pressure loss you could put in some leak sealer.

I havnt heard of putting perfume in before?

Depending on the type of rad.
If you wanted to try this, you could turn off a radiator at both ends, loosen a nut from the valve to the radiator a little and drain some water into a tray, undo one of the vent plugs on the end of the rad at top and then pour some in using a 1/2 inch male iron to compression with a bit of copper in it, a hose attached and then a small funnel

If it's a standard rail
A towel rail is easier, just drain a bit of the towel rail as above and then take one of the vent caps off and put the funnel straight in the hole

When you have finished, replace the vent plug, re do up the rad valve, open the valves and then top up your pressure

Run the heating to see if you can smell the leak ( seems like a clever idea, let me know if it works)

 

[Terry lambert]

To open the isolating valves under the boiler, get a flat screw driver and turn them so that they are in line in front of you.

I would have thought the engineer should come back though, lazy sod.

Tell them the pressure still dropped and get him back to do it anyway, then say you must have been mistaken

 

[doggyvonne]

To open the isolating valves under the boiler, get a flat screw driver and turn them so that they are in line in front of you.

I would have thought the engineer should come back though, lazy s**.

Tell them the pressure still dropped and get him back to do it anyway, then say you must have been mistaken

He said he's not coming back eve if it does drop because he is adamant there is nothing wrong with the boiler.

Well that has disgusted me too and expected a better service than that from Bosch considering we cant easily get into the loft. The pressure guage we had put in is in the airing cupboard but apparently it reads different pressure to the boiler so maybe useless? We know a good pipes plumber who isnt gas safe who will maybe do the seal and perfume procedures for us. I assume the perfume will exude from any bit of floor nearest to the underground leak?
We have seventies rads and no heated towel rails BTW.
The guy also mentioned a pressure release flue outside and said it was straight and should be curved back on itself. Is there anything else with pressure release whihc might need seeing to?

 

[Terry lambert]

I'm doing a convert tp combi every week to every other week, and it is rare to pop leaks on copper pipe when converting although it does happen.

Did the leak occur when the engineer was their or a little while later? and did the leak occur around an area that he had been working?

Not so much trying to pass blame just trying to see if he had a leak and is using this old standard excuse as a let off.

Often the leak or weep will be around radiator valves or is their any brass compression fittings around or below the boiler just out of sight that may be weeping, it would only take something very small to cause a pressure loss, get a bit of tissue and see.

Sometimes something may only weep when the system is hot as the metal expands.

If heating pipe work is in screed it should not really have been sealed

 

[Terry lambert]

The pressure releif pipe needs turning back to the wall or you can get a mushroom fitting which then directs any water back to the wall.

The plumber could drain the first floor rads, take off a rad valve and then put a small funnel into the pipe and put the perfume,die in that way.

 

[doggyvonne]

I'm doing a convert tp combi every week to every other week, and it is rare to pop leaks on copper pipe when converting although it does happen.

Did the leak occur when the engineer was their or a little while later? and did the leak occur around an area that he had been working?

Not so much trying to pass blame just trying to see if he had a leak and is using this old standard excuse as a let off.

Often the leak or weep will be around radiator valves or is their any brass compression fittings around or below the boiler just out of sight that may be weeping, it would only take something very small to cause a pressure loss, get a bit of tissue and see.


Sometimes something may only weep when the system is hot as the metal expands.

If heating pipe work is in screed it should not really have been sealed

Terry the first leak was where he (the original independent installer) was working but he brought down a curved piece of pipe cut away with green stains and white holes in it. The next leak was 3 hours later in an old pipe 5 ft from that one which resulted in kitchen ceiling being taken down and insurance claim. The third leak happened in new pipe joint on landing in line with first one and went into electric light and left a long crack in ceiling plaster. The place we suspect there might be leak under screed is 70s nothing to do with the installation last year and I dont know what's what as the floor is parquet under the carpet.

 

[Terry lambert]

Mmmm to a couple of the leaks

What i mean is, the system should not really have been pressureised with pipes that are in screed.

At worst if it is here, that section can be re- piped if leak sealer fails.

How quickly does the system lose pressure?

 

[doggyvonne]

Mmmm to a couple of the leaks

What i mean is, the system should not really have been pressureised with pipes that are in screed.

At worst if it is here, that section can be re- piped if leak sealer fails.

How quickly does the system lose pressure?

We only lose pressure if we turn off the heating and just have hot water say for a week or two and then when we turn heating on the pressure goes. We were told to top it up every time but you can appreciate what this means for someone going up in a loft with half a knee and 60 years old.

We suspected that lots of pipes should have been replaced first and we did query this but the guy seemed unwilling and appeared to have end to end jobs elsewhere and only seemed interested in fitting the boiler. When the 4th leak happened months later it was a leaky valve but he made it clear he was not interested in repair jobs so we found our pipes man. It seems some engineers are only interested in putting in the expensive gear and then moving on to another similar job.

 

[doggyvonne]

Mmmm to a couple of the leaks

What i mean is, the system should not really have been pressureised with pipes that are in screed.

At worst if it is here, that section can be re- piped if leak sealer fails.

How quickly does the system lose pressure?

We only lose pressure if we turn off the heating and just have hot water say for a week or two and then when we turn heating on the pressure goes. We were told to top it up every time but you can appreciate what this means for someone going up in a loft with half a knee and 60 years old. The installer said we had to keep the heating turned on on timer but the turned down on the stat downstairs..it sounded barmy to me and so I took no notice as it would mean the boiler never got a rest.


We suspected that lots of pipes should have been replaced first and we did query this but the guy seemed unwilling and appeared to have end to end jobs elsewhere and only seemed interested in fitting the boiler. When the 4th leak happened months later it was a leaky valve but he made it clear he was not interested in repair jobs so we found our pipes man. It seems some engineers are only interested in putting in the expensive gear and then moving on to another similar job.

 

[Terry lambert]

You get good and bad in all trades.

I suspect that fernox leak sealer may fix your problem, it is certainly worth a go.

The only downside is that you will have to run your heating everyday for a couple of weeks to give it a chance to work.

I don't believe that lots of pipes would have needed replacing, I'm not convinced by your installer. Still I wasn't there, so who's to know

 

[doggyvonne]

You get good and bad in all trades.

I suspect that fernox leak sealer may fix your problem, it is certainly worth a go.

The only downside is that you will have to run your heating everyday for a couple of weeks to give it a chance to work.

I don't believe that lots of pipes would have needed replacing, I'm not convinced by your installer. Still I wasn't there, so who's to know

(o: 'Not convinced' is a very polite way of putting it
My neighbour an elderly retired Police Officer says the copper pipes used in 70s were very poor.
The heat of 2 weeks c/h would make me expire right now but maybe do it when it gets cold. there is a rad in the lounge which has all its feed pipe under screed and boxed into the wall. Perhaps that all needs redoing on the surface and our piping man can do it otherwise, assuming you are qualified, do you work in the Essex area?
thank you so much for your assistance and I have printed out this thread for my husband to read tonight

 

[Terry lambert]

I am qualified but. Do not work the Essex area

You could try my builder.com and you will be able to vet them through they're feed back

There was a copper shortage in the seventies but that doesn't mean that you have got inferior pipe.

I wouldn't replace the pipe work in the screed yet as the leak may not be there.

I would use the leak sealer, see if that works, or for that matter the die and perfume, why not, and see what happens


I try to be polite, but maybe not always
I'm competing with someone else to 100 thanks on here and you've helped me on my way, so that's all good.

Good luck