PLEASE HELP!!!! - My loft is like a sauna!!!

[abestravels]

Hi,

I feel as though i am in uregent need of some help and advice.

I moved into my huse about 8 weeks back. It is a turn of the century house and the bathroom is downstairs.

It is heated by a 'back boiler' (in the dining room) and the copper tank is located next to the bathroom. Although it is an old house the heating works well and the water heats up mega quick.

Upsatairs in the loft i have one big looking bucket (for the cold water i presume), and smaller bucket for hot water. the pipe run into and out of these.

A few weeks back i heard some loud wooshing, vibrrating noises from the loft but put it down to high winds and rain. However, it has again started today. I chose to investigate as the pipes which run down from the loft and through our bedrrom were making a proper roaring, wooshing and genreally loud noise. It seemed to start, roar for 10 seconds, and then stop. The cycle would continue.

I went up into the loft and as soon as i opened it up, steam started bellowing out. I went into the loft and turned the light on and the whole loft was proper steamed up. The felt on the underside of the roof was covered in water (condenstation).

Over at the 2 buckets i could see that the floorbaord were wet also. Upon watching the 10 second cycle i could see that the pipe that ran into the small hot water bucket was running for the 10 seconds and then stopping. It was spurting the water out as if there was a pressure issue. The pipes were all shaking greatly.

I turned the heatin and hot water off however 2 hours later the problem is stoill going and the noises are still intensive. I know little about plumbing but am concerned about this.

Any Ideas?

cheers,


Aby

 

[stardanny]

Boiler is overheating, faulty boiler thermostat.

Shut it down urgent, call a competent CORGI engineer.

 

[Agile]

It sounds as if the boiler stat has failed!

However back boiler units are very dangerous if not properly checked.

I very strongly advise you engage a competent CORGI engineer to sort it out and test that the boiler is operating safely.

We would charge about £126 inclusive in the London area!

Tony

 

[namsag]

If it is still making noises 2 hours after it has been turned off i would say it is the gas valve not shutting off. So TURN GAS of at main tap . People have died by tanks collapsing and sending scalding water through ceilings onto them

 

[Agile]

I missed that bit!

Its so rare for a gas valve to be stuck on but thats quite a possibility in this case.

But it could be a control fault instead.

Tony

 

[abestravels]

Thanks for your speedy replies.

Rather than going to sleep i played about with the heating controls and kept turning the heating on and off. I think the controls must have jammed and like you quite rightly suggested i think it was a gas control problem.

By doing this i eventually managed to get the back boiler flame back to low flame and the water and the noises stopped. There must have been some kind of fault which tempoarily stopped the heating controls from turning off properly.

However, all now seems to be back to normal and i hope it stays that way. Im off up in the loft to see if things are okay.

Thanks guys.

 

[JohnD]

you've decided not to call anybody in, haven't you?

 

[bengasman]

you've decided not to call anybody in, haven't you?

of course not, the boiler is fine now. why give a plumber a chance to rip him off, replacing parts that have gone back to working properly?