Hi all
I have looked in the FAQ and previous posts to try to establish the root of this problem, but there is a twist which is confusing me.
The system pressure has been going down for some time in my boiler (months ans months). Initially - I could put 1 bar into it and it would take about 3 days to go down, but now the pressure would fall from 1 bar to 0 in a couple of hours.
Many months ago, I contacted my local central heating company (who initially installed the boiler), and said that there were 3 "symptoms":
1: the pressure keeps falling in the boiler
2: the hot water is only available intermittmently
3: the radiators need bleeding on a daily basis and often don't get hot
It has been a very long 9 months or so, but in this time the company has replaced the blending valve, two pumps, a filling loop, a diverter switch, a heat exchanger, and a friend of mine also replaced the automatic air vent. I should add that during this time, I had no idea what any of these parts did, or how a boiler works.
As the problem is still no better 9 months on (actually it is worse) I spent last weekend trying to learn how a boiler works, and trying to identify the problem myself. Once I understood how the boiler worked the first thing I looked for was a leak in the heating. After isolating all of the upstairs radiators the pressure still went down, so I only looked at the downstairs heating. I couldn't see any evidence of a leak.
Next thing I looked at was the expansion vessel - which was full of water. Yeah - I can't believe it hadn't been checked in 9 months (and about 10 call-outs) either. So I thought this was the problem, and I put a balloon over the pipe which is attached to the PRV, but in the morning the pressure had gone down but the baloon was still there, dry!
Can anyone think what might be the issue here. Obviously the expansion vessel needs replacing, but where is the water going? I am currently putting about 5 litres a day into the boiler!
A bit of background which might be important is that the problem started after we had the house extneded. We had the loft converted, with 3 radiators upstairs, and a significant extension downstairs with 4 new radiators. Most of the floors are tiled and I'm reluctand to rip them all up - so is there any other way to check if the radiator side is leaking without ripping up the floor?
I apologise that this post is so long winded, but if you have made it to the end, and can help - I'd really appreciate it.
Rich
I have looked in the FAQ and previous posts to try to establish the root of this problem, but there is a twist which is confusing me.
The system pressure has been going down for some time in my boiler (months ans months). Initially - I could put 1 bar into it and it would take about 3 days to go down, but now the pressure would fall from 1 bar to 0 in a couple of hours.
Many months ago, I contacted my local central heating company (who initially installed the boiler), and said that there were 3 "symptoms":
1: the pressure keeps falling in the boiler
2: the hot water is only available intermittmently
3: the radiators need bleeding on a daily basis and often don't get hot
It has been a very long 9 months or so, but in this time the company has replaced the blending valve, two pumps, a filling loop, a diverter switch, a heat exchanger, and a friend of mine also replaced the automatic air vent. I should add that during this time, I had no idea what any of these parts did, or how a boiler works.
As the problem is still no better 9 months on (actually it is worse) I spent last weekend trying to learn how a boiler works, and trying to identify the problem myself. Once I understood how the boiler worked the first thing I looked for was a leak in the heating. After isolating all of the upstairs radiators the pressure still went down, so I only looked at the downstairs heating. I couldn't see any evidence of a leak.
Next thing I looked at was the expansion vessel - which was full of water. Yeah - I can't believe it hadn't been checked in 9 months (and about 10 call-outs) either. So I thought this was the problem, and I put a balloon over the pipe which is attached to the PRV, but in the morning the pressure had gone down but the baloon was still there, dry!
Can anyone think what might be the issue here. Obviously the expansion vessel needs replacing, but where is the water going? I am currently putting about 5 litres a day into the boiler!
A bit of background which might be important is that the problem started after we had the house extneded. We had the loft converted, with 3 radiators upstairs, and a significant extension downstairs with 4 new radiators. Most of the floors are tiled and I'm reluctand to rip them all up - so is there any other way to check if the radiator side is leaking without ripping up the floor?
I apologise that this post is so long winded, but if you have made it to the end, and can help - I'd really appreciate it.
Rich
