Wear And Tear Causing Leaks?

[Trevor Rix]

Is there such a thing as "wear and tear" causing joints in a new heating installation to leak within two years? As in infrequent heating and cooling of the water in the pipes causing expansion and contraction of joints?

 

[Scott_D]

What’s the rest of the story?

 

[Best]

No

 

[Ben-gee]

Sounds like op has leaks and is being fobbed off by whoever installed it....

 

[Trevor Rix]

The rest of the story is my long thread in here of October 2016 with the subject "Pressure drops when 650 litre buffer tank is filled with water but no drop with air".

Two years later the cause of this saga was found to be a leak in the plumbing. That leak only became obvious after around three major heating/cooling cycles when the biomass heating system was switched off each summer because central heating was not required during the warmest months of the year.

The plumber now claims that the leaks were to be expected due to "wear and tear". In my opinion the installation was not fit for purpose, in that it started leaking after only a relatively short period of time since new.

 

[Best]

Some photos of the leaking joints and rest of install would be good

 

[Trevor Rix]

Here is an photo of the main leak, in a cupboard which is not opened often. There are photos of the main part of the system 80 metres away in my thread "Pressure drops when 650 litre buffer tank is filled with water but no drop with air" of Ictober 2016.

 

[Rob Foster]

Here is an photo of the main leak, in a cupboard which is not opened often. There are photos of the main part of the system 80 metres away in my thread "Pressure drops when 650 litre buffer tank is filled with water but no drop with air" of Ictober 2016.

View attachment 38356

uck chking...but thats being growing for a long time, do you
never service that mag filter yourself ? its also brown rather than
black which means you have an on going leak in your system
the colour tells all...chking Tf1 is a good unit ...I designed part of it

 

[Best]

Here is an photo of the main leak, in a cupboard which is not opened often. There are photos of the main part of the system 80 metres away in my thread "Pressure drops when 650 litre buffer tank is filled with water but no drop with air" of Ictober 2016.

View attachment 38356

Well can’t argue about that being a bad leak!
The final joints on the valves to the filter body are rubber washers and shouldn’t leak if nuts are properly tightened. They are awkward on the Fernox filter and wouldn’t surprise me if the nuts weren’t fully tight

 

[Trevor Rix]

In my opinion the joint was not originally fully tight as you say.

 

[Riley]

But does beg the question why no service carried out as that would’ve been found a damnsite sooner

 

[Trevor Rix]

The system was serviced annually by the supplier/installer.

During the hundreds of hours spent trying to identify the original loss of pressure without success, this particular leak was not obvious.

 

[Riley]

That would’ve been brown after a year let alone a couple

 

[Trevor Rix]

I serviced that TF1 myself once and was found to be clean. It was also serviced annually by the supplier/installer/plumber.

The brown could be a result of the buffer tank being emptied filled heated emptied multiple times over serveral weeks, obviously having lost the inhibitor in the process. The inhibitor has been replenished twice since then as the saga unfolded.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I serviced that TF1 myself once and was found to be clean. It was also serviced annually by the supplier/installer/plumber.

The brown could be a result of the buffer tank being emptied filled heated emptied multiple times over serveral weeks, obviously having lost the inhibitor in the process. The inhibitor has been replenished twice since then as the saga unfolded.

theres more than a few moths there i would say 2 years plus

 

[Riley]

That’s as maybe but that’s a lot of staining for 2 years. I’d say it’s been leaking from day one. Irrespective of who cleaned it it should’ve been picked up. Also if a search for a leak was carried out the common sense approach is to visually inspect ALL pipework on show before you start worrying about in walls or under floors.

 

[Scott_D]

Tf1 is a good unit ...I designed part of it

I hope the leaking lid wasn’t yours

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I hope the leaking lid wasn’t yours

and the valves also the plastic threads failing in whole rubbish unit

 

[Scott_D]

and the valves also the plastic threads failing in whole rubbish unit

I was trying to break it gently

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I was trying to break it gently

time to rip it off

 

[Harvest Fields]

Was the service/ cover from a national company that has a penguin? Before I right my actual reply.

 

[Rob Foster]

I hope the leaking lid wasn’t yours

No way , Api 20o6 only ever designed the in and out port
ports to this type of mag unit,
we did a few in the late 90's
and maybe advised on the magnets....and the stainers
for non mag stuff. Basically
designing these things was simple ...a bit like tuning an engine...high performance petrol unit which we were familiar with , but it was fun...the worst one at that time was Magnaclean by Mr Adey...whom I hope is. £ m fella. He was lucky ..BG bought it
he got paid off ..happy days ..then after all the problems including
being de..listed by BG they bounced back ...throw money at it and this unit is the highest selling volume domestic mag filter in Europe now.
centralheatking

 

[Harvest Fields]

No way , Api 20o6 only ever designed the in and out port
ports to this type of mag unit,
we did a few in the late 90's
and maybe advised on the magnets....and the stainers
for non mag stuff. Basically
designing these things was simple ...a bit like tuning an engine...high performance petrol unit which we were familiar with , but it was fun
centralheatking

so it is partly one of yours

 

[Rob Foster]

We only ever advised on the porting and the filters in the 90's and also the cartridge mags ..we did it was easy as we
had experience in water dynamics chking

 

[Harvest Fields]

Hook, line and sinker...

 

[Burger]

Here is an photo of the main leak, in a cupboard which is not opened often. There are photos of the main part of the system 80 metres away in my thread "Pressure drops when 650 litre buffer tank is filled with water but no drop with air" of Ictober 2016.

View attachment 38356

Looks a bit like a condensate pipe has leaked onto that.

 

[Trevor Rix]

The photo of the TF1 above was taken on 04 Sep 2018.

This photo was taken on 08 Aug 2016 during the period of the failed investigation into the loss of pressure. See the TF1 area in question on the left. The area below the topmost red valve looks suspiciously brown?

 

[Rob Foster]

The photo of the TF1 above was taken on 04 Sep 2018.

This photo was taken on 08Aug2016 during the period of the failed investigation into the loss of pressure. See the TF1 area in question on the left. The area below the topmost red valve looks suspiciously brown?

View attachment 38362

What a mess, chking

 

[Trevor Rix]

The whole of the supply and installation and servicing has been done by an independent biomass boiler company in Suffolk.

 

[Harvest Fields]

TF1’s are known to have problems. Especially once fitted for a couple of years. You only have to knock the black body and the valves leak. Plus they are both in a terrible location. (Also, why do you have 2?) Was that cupboard and shelving built after the installation works were completed? Also check all the paperwork as they may have noted the condition of them on the CP12. If I had done a service it would be on the CP12

 

[ShaunCorbs]

TF1’s are known to have problems. Especially once fitted for a couple of years. You only have to knock the black body and the valves leak. Plus they are both in a terrible location. (Also, why do you have 2?) Was that cupboard and shelving built after the installation works were completed? Also check all the paperwork as they may have noted the condition of them on the CP12. If I had done a service it would be on the CP12

Primary and secondary sides of the plate

 

[Harvest Fields]

Primary and secondary sides of the plate

Shouldn’t it all go back to the return on the boiler?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Shouldn’t it all go back to the return on the boiler?

Bio mass mate

 

[Rob Foster]

TF1’s are known to have problems. Especially once fitted for a couple of years. You only have to knock the black body and the valves leak. Plus they are both in a terrible location. (Also, why do you have 2?) Was that cupboard and shelving built after the installation works were completed? Also check all the paperwork as they may have noted the condition of them on the CP12. If I had done a service it would be on the CP12

The best mag filter we were involved with was Centramag
by Trappex... its a smashing unit...not mine but Shaz 's great
quality strong magnet and a fine none mag filter. centralheatking

 

[Harvest Fields]

Bio mass mate

No worries. I presume that means that they have independent returns?