Boiler cutting out...no pressure

[james j smith]

Have had to top up system every few hours. Strange thing is, checked all the usual suspects for leaks...none, and radiators full..ie not needing bled ! But water has to be going somewhere !

 

[Chuck]

Have had to top up system every few hours. Strange thing is, checked all the usual suspects for leaks...none, and radiators full..ie not needing bled ! But water has to be going somewhere !

Could be a faulty heat exchanger so the water is running out of the condensate outlet unnoticed. If so, it's not a DIY job; needs a Gas Safe Registered engineer to investigate and fix.

 

[james j smith]

Hi,
now that would make sense. Condensate vents onto solumn so no visible sign. And you don't need to lose a lot of water at a time for low pressure to kick in. Easy enough to check that out. Thanks for that.

 

[Harvest Fields]

What boiler is it?

 

[james j smith]

Hi. It's a Vaillant EcoTec Pro 28. In beteeen topping it up all day and looking for leak I disconnected condensate pipe and there was a trickle came out. Seems like the smoking gun. Life seemed a lot simpler when I was hoping it would be the air vent valve !

 

[james j smith]

Chuck...your expertise much appreciated. Disconnected horizontal condensate pipe at 90' bend before it heads down to the solumn, topped up and fired up boiler. Steady trickle coming out of pipe. Looks like Santa will be coming early with a new heat exchanger ...ho ho ho...seals not included.

 

[king of pipes]

I suggest you employ a gas safe engineer to check your boiler it is a condensing boiler so you will get a trickle of water from the white pipe when its fired up , it will be a different story if you get dirty water out of the pipe when the boiler is not working when you top it up a engineer will be able to diagnose this fault. Regards kop

 

[james j smith]

I placed a pyrex dish to catch what came out the condensate pipe. After approx 2 hours, the boiler was close to cutting out pressure. There was about a cup of water in the dish. It looked perfectly clear. What can be deduced from that ?

 

[king of pipes]

Leak but not necessarily the boiler ?it would be coloured and the boiler heat exchanger would be a right mess inside , you get poor combustion and a popping sound when boiler fires a flue gas analysis will pick it up not something you can do as i said employ a GSRI . Kop

 

[james j smith]

Are you saying there might be a problem with the burner / combustion setting ? What I know is I am topping up system often and only sign of water exiting seems to be the condensate pipe. Also, only seems to lose pressure when the boiler is working. I switched of heating side for a while and no pressure drop. On this model/type boiler, how much water would need to be leaked for boiler to stop. Think it's a 10 litre system.

 

[Harvest Fields]

@ShaunCorbs

 

[james j smith]

My boiler has been running pretty constantly since 4 am. Frosty morning here. I've been monitoring what has come out the condensate pipe. In 5 hours, about 1/2 pint. As said, this is clear water. Is that amount of condensate normal ?

 

[james j smith]

To revert back to the AAV...if that was the problem, would I not see signs of leakage inside boiler ?

 

[king of pipes]

Bottom line you need a engineer thats me done . Kop

 

[Harvest Fields]

Are you Gas safe registered?

 

[james j smith]

NO. Do I need to be to try and find out what the problem is ?

 

[Harvest Fields]

To mess with the condense pipe you do.

 

[Chuck]

I placed a pyrex dish to catch what came out the condensate pipe. After approx 2 hours, the boiler was close to cutting out pressure. There was about a cup of water in the dish. It looked perfectly clear. What can be deduced from that ?

Not much.

That amount, and the fact that its nice and clear, means that it could simply be the condensate from normal operation. You'd need a water test kit to decide whether it contained system water resulting from a leak.

Please take the advice being offered, which is to get a Gas Safe Registered heating engineer to investigate and fix. The boiler manufacturer will recommend one if you can't find someone good yourself.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Op your skating on thin ice

You could be a nuclear engineer for all I care

Let's swap the roles

Would you help someone over the phone with no qualifications in the field do what your doing eg step by step instructions

Answer is no

Thread closed

 

[ShaunCorbs]

One week temporary ban for the op for not listening to the warnings about language and behaviour