Sentinel TotalGuard Leaking from bleeding valve

[ken218]

Happy New Year everyone!!

We were away last month and when we came back I notice central heating pressure dropped to 0. Didn't think much and topped it up to 1.5 bar. Exactly a month later, pressure dropped to 0 again last night. This time I know something is very wrong.

After some investigation, I believe I fount the leak on the magnetic filter connected to the return pipe of the boiler. It is a Sentinel Eliminator TurboGuard. The leak is from the bleeding valve. I tried the bleeding pin itself, the leak wasn't coming from that, but the housing instead, likely from the thread. I tried to tighten the housing maybe by a quarter turn, and the water stopped. This morning I see water dripping and accumulating again, so I tighten it a bit more, maybe another quarter turn, and the leak stopped again. The hex head can be tighten further, but I am worried I might cause some damage to the plastic filter housing (or I already have) by over tightening, so I stopped.

I did some search online and couldn't find anyone reported leaks from there. And I suppose the bleeding valve housing wouldn't just loosen on its own? So I assume I still need to do some repair works, but not sure what. I might have a few options.
1) Replace the whole filter - I think I need a plumber for that and it will cost quite a lot.
2) Replace the o-ring (assume there is one), but I can't determine the size, and can't find any info on the o-ring size to use.
3) remove the valve housing, apply PTFE tapes and fit it on again.
4) Tighten it more until it stops (as it can be tighten further).

Any suggestions please?

I attached some images if my description wasn't clear. the red lines are where the waters are leaking from.

Thanks
Ken

 

[terryplumb]

Take the bleed valve out ,if there is a plumbers merchant open near to you take it there to get a new O ring. If not ,wrap PTFE tape around it's thread and re fit it . Get a new O ring when possible .
It looks like the leak may not be from the bleed valve though .

 

[ken218]

Thanks. I removed the bleed valve, and saw the filter housing screw thread has stripped. Could be due to aging, or over tighten by gas engineer during a service. Not sure which though.

Feeling brave, I decided to change it myself. The first mistake was that I attempted to upgrade to the newer model (Vortex 300). I thought I might be able to just swap out the filter, but turned out the pipe housing aren’t compatible.

Then I somehow built up some courage and decided to swap out the pipe housing too, only to find that the older model requires 193mm of space, but the new model requires only 183mm. So my pipes are 10mm too short to fit the new filter.

I think because I had too much mulled wine over Christmas, I decided I will learn to solder copper pipes. YouTube videos made them look super easy!! Off to the shop for more stuff. Blow torch, solder, flux, soldering mat, gloves, pipe, connector, and then I figured I am missing a spanner for the 22mm coupler. So I got that too. I even got a bottle of x100 on my way out!

After all the mess about, I think I might have managed to do the job. Heating is back on. But it might take a few days to determine if it is definitely leak free.

Thinking about it, it would probably be cheaper to get the plumber out to do the job, and if I knew how big the job was before I start, I would probably have left it to the professionals. But I think this is the spirit of DIY! Now… where do I hide all the new tools before Mrs starts to moan about them.