Pressure driving me mad!

[tesh]

Hi, I'm new to these forums but any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a heatline Solaris 30 combi boiler which was installed nearly 3 years ago. It's been problem free but since last weekend is losing pressure at an alarming rate. it will go from 1.5 bar to 0.2 bar in 3 - 4 hours. I'm having to top up the pressure several times a day just to keep the heating going.

I'm not a plumber but I like to think I'm fairly technically minded, I've spent hours reading about pressure loss on the internet, I've checked the PRV and there's no sign of drips from the copper pipe outside. I've checked every radiator and not a single leaky tap or valve. I've even lifted floorboards to check pipes and have found nothing! I would have thought that with that much topping up a leak would be fairly apparent, we have no underfloor pipes and the house is a 3 story so a leak of that magnitude would (should) ruin a ceiling somewhere but hasn't. The pressure does not rise dramatically when the heating is switched on so the expansion vessel appears to be working.

I'm completely baffled - is there anywhere else all this water could be going???

Any suggestions, however far fetched, would be most welcome!

Thanks, Tesh.

 

[Puddle]

Well it is going somewhere,you say you have checked pr pipework,stick end into bottle and see if it fills could be releasing now and again,does pressure drop when heating not used or only when heating on

 

[Penged]

Hi
Don't be tempted to do it yourself, get a gas safe engineer in asap.

 

[spanner]

You got a leak on the heating side. You need to go check your rads for a pretty rapid water leak, have you ever touched the radiators for bleeding it could be a lose bleed valve..Think you'd also need to go up in loft to check in other places??
How long has this been occuring???
Sounds like a TITANIC somewhere,,
Hope you find it???

 

[PuraTherm]

Penged is right. If you are not at least ACS then don't touch the boiler. Some engineers put a drain down outside. Might want to check there.

 

[tesh]

Thanks for the responses.

Well it is going somewhere,you say you have checked pr pipework,stick end into bottle and see if it fills could be releasing now and again,does pressure drop when heating not used or only when heating on

Nothing coming from pr pipe whatsoever and pressure drops regardless of whether heating is on or off.

You got a leak on the heating side. You need to go check your rads for a pretty rapid water leak, have you ever touched the radiators for bleeding it could be a lose bleed valve..Think you'd also need to go up in loft to check in other places??
How long has this been occuring???
Sounds like a TITANIC somewhere,,
Hope you find it???

No plumbing in the loft, I have bled the radiators myself, no leaks there either. Given the amount of water I'm putting into the system I just can't understand where it's all going! PR pipe is bone dry and really I should have an almighty wet patch in one of the ceilings if there is a leak but there's nothing.

Is it possible for the pressure to be lost through the flue or condensation pipe or even into the domestic hot water?

Some articles I have read suggest closing the heating flow and return valves to test if pressure loss is in the boiler or heating system, is this of any use? I've tried and nothing different seems to happen, pressure still goes down and when I reopen the valves I would expect the pressure in the boiler and system to equalise but nothing happens at all.

Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and call someone out, any suggestions what I should be looking for other than 'gas safe'? Is it worth calling Heatline?

 

[Blackcatgas]

Phona a friend or family member, one of your mates will be able to reccomend somone.