Safe Boiler Water Pressure

[erethryn]

Hi,

A couple of days ago I discovered my boiler pilot light was out and the water pressure gauge read zero, I managed to repressurize the system, and after several attempts, got the gas to stay on when the heating was switched on (ie. the pilot light stayed on when no water was being drawn through the boiler, but died when the heating or a hot tap was switched on).

The pressure at this point was reading about 3.5 bar (the operational minimum is 0.7, max on the gauge is 4!), and the central heating/hot water worked fine all night.

After leaving overnight the pressure had dropped to about 2 bar, and the original problem occurred. I increased the pressure to 3.5 bar, and it worked again.

I assume the drop in pressure would indicate a leak somewhere in the system, and am wondering if running at at 3.5 bar (repressurizing when necessary) is safe until someone can come and check it out in about a week and a half.

The boiler is a Glowworm Swiftflow 80.

Forgive my rambling, but I just want to make sure it's safe to use until it can be repaired.

Thanks

 

[Bahco]

You should not be running your boiler at 3.5 bar

Release some water out of the system at one of your drain points until the pressure is at one bar.
See if your boiler works. If not get an engineer in.

 

[erethryn]

Thanks, I've dropped the pressure to 1.3, and (so far) it appears to be working.

I've got an engineer booked, but he can't come out until next week, and and really don't fancy being without heating at the moment, so hopefully it'll continue to work!

 

[kevplumb]

how did you get the pressure to 3.5 bar
prv should open at 3