It's ok as a get out of jail free card. Not intended as a permanent fix.
10 bottles is far to much.
Boiler Saga Continues - Probable Leak...(Update 24/12/20 - Trace and Access visit)
- Thread starter siross85
- Start date
It's ok as a get out of jail free card. Not intended as a permanent fix.
10 bottles is far to much.
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I have been in this game for 40 years and have never and will never add any brand of leak sealer, if you have a leak find it and repair it, leak sealer is for cowboys
The great British public.......
Options given. Choice made . First job was a gash. So only pump to worry about. Out of warranty as they've never had it serviced.
Second job is an alpha...... should have put 20 tins in!
I get that, but there is instances like the op's where a temporary repair with a leak sealer will help him by buying him some time until his personal circumstances are a bit easier in a few months time.
He's made it quite clear he can't have the floor taken up at the moment.
Regardless of what you would do as a professional the first thing any pro should do is take into account the customers current circumstances.
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No a Pro will say leak sealer will damage your boiler and your pump, find it fix it sorted, pouring shoite into a system is not the answer
There is no evidence it blocks boilers and pumps, and if it did there wouldn't be reputable companies offering it.
I've only got experience on automotive systems, and I can confidently say they don't block anything despite false accusations.
(I've also used leak sealer in a boiler and had no issues running it like so for 6 months while I waited for the installer to become free to fit my new boiler)
They should only ever be used as a temporary fix and the system will require a flush when the leak gets fixed.
Just keep cracking eggs into the radiator on your cars and leave the heating problems to the pros, there is plenty of evidence that modern boilers cant handle leak sealer
Update.
ADI Leak Detection came in yesterday to look at the system. Initial tests with a thermal imaging camera and damp meter inconclusive so on to the gas tracer. Water drained from the system and gas pumped in, he found.....absolutely nothing. There was no trace of gas leakage anywhere in the downstairs heating pipes whatsoever, nothing on any of the rads. Basically no gas leaking anywhere. The pressure from the gas also stayed constant which suggests there is no leak in the downstairs pipes.
After reinstating the heating and bleeding all rads, the pressure is STILL dropping. It's dropping slower but it's still dropping. There was no air in the system this morning when the heating kicked on, which meant the radiators were silent but there is still a drop in pressure.
So what I know so far:
- Boiler pressure is dropping.
- When shutting off the downstairs heating pipes with isolation valves the boiler is fine, i.e. no pressure drop.
- There is no physical evidence of an obvious leak anywhere, i.e. water up the walls etc.
- There is no obvious evidence of a leak under the floor from what I've managed to see with my camera.
- The leak detection experts found no evidence of a leak using thermal imaging, damp meters and gas tracing.
This is driving me absolutely bloody insane.
I know the best bet would be to rip the floor up and inspect every pipe and joint properly but as mentioned that really isn't an option currently, my daughter would have to move out of the house for a few days which is not an option.
It would be good if I could just hook up a fully functioning boiler to double check everything, shame it's not that simple lol.
One thing I did think of was whether there was an impact of the islotation valves but surely if they were a problem then they would be leaking? The short of it is, if I understand it correctly, for the pressure to drop, water is leaving the system somewhere, that's either in the boiler (or a result of the boiler), radiators or pipework...
I'm 100% lost.
ADI Leak Detection came in yesterday to look at the system. Initial tests with a thermal imaging camera and damp meter inconclusive so on to the gas tracer. Water drained from the system and gas pumped in, he found.....absolutely nothing. There was no trace of gas leakage anywhere in the downstairs heating pipes whatsoever, nothing on any of the rads. Basically no gas leaking anywhere. The pressure from the gas also stayed constant which suggests there is no leak in the downstairs pipes.
After reinstating the heating and bleeding all rads, the pressure is STILL dropping. It's dropping slower but it's still dropping. There was no air in the system this morning when the heating kicked on, which meant the radiators were silent but there is still a drop in pressure.
So what I know so far:
- Boiler pressure is dropping.
- When shutting off the downstairs heating pipes with isolation valves the boiler is fine, i.e. no pressure drop.
- There is no physical evidence of an obvious leak anywhere, i.e. water up the walls etc.
- There is no obvious evidence of a leak under the floor from what I've managed to see with my camera.
- The leak detection experts found no evidence of a leak using thermal imaging, damp meters and gas tracing.
This is driving me absolutely bloody insane.
I know the best bet would be to rip the floor up and inspect every pipe and joint properly but as mentioned that really isn't an option currently, my daughter would have to move out of the house for a few days which is not an option.
It would be good if I could just hook up a fully functioning boiler to double check everything, shame it's not that simple lol.
One thing I did think of was whether there was an impact of the islotation valves but surely if they were a problem then they would be leaking? The short of it is, if I understand it correctly, for the pressure to drop, water is leaving the system somewhere, that's either in the boiler (or a result of the boiler), radiators or pipework...
I'm 100% lost.
Need to start back at basics.
There is only a couple of places a boiler can leak.
Joints
Pressure relief valve
Leak in boiler
Have you confirmed the expansion vessel is functioning correctly and at the correct pressure?
Have you had someone inspect the boiler?
There is only a couple of places a boiler can leak.
Joints
Pressure relief valve
Leak in boiler
Have you confirmed the expansion vessel is functioning correctly and at the correct pressure?
Have you had someone inspect the boiler?
Hi, yes BG have been out 3 times looking at the boiler and the expansion vessel in particular. I'm not convinced how much fault finding they did as they were there for around an hour.
The OPs told us a million times that the system only looses pressure when the downstairs rads are connected...why we keep having these threads insisting there's a problem with the boiler is beyond me.
The evidence shown before is that the leak's on the downstairs pipework....rusty plastic fittings are a clue.
Perhaps it's conceivable that the tracer gas was just blown around under the floor assuming it's a ventilated void.
See if you can re-pipe the rads from drops above.
The evidence shown before is that the leak's on the downstairs pipework....rusty plastic fittings are a clue.
Perhaps it's conceivable that the tracer gas was just blown around under the floor assuming it's a ventilated void.
See if you can re-pipe the rads from drops above.
Not sure to be honest, he did ramp up the pressure when it initially didn't show anything. The gas was one for around 3 hours.
From your message it seems like you think the gas test was a waste of time and money?
I thought you had proven several times that the problem was on the pipework...
I'm guessing they didn't flush out all the water (how do they do that?) or the gas pressure was insufficient or the wind blew it through the wall vents.
I'm guessing they didn't flush out all the water (how do they do that?) or the gas pressure was insufficient or the wind blew it through the wall vents.
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