BUBBLES in the loft!!!??

[ferociousbeast]

hello all, just turned my central heating on today and all was okay until i heard a strange bubbling noise coming from the loft.

Thinking it was some kind of evil demon reincarnating itself before sending the earth into eternal darkness, i carefully climbed the ladder with my crucifix and wooden stake, to put an end to its' evil plan.

To my surprise, i found the pipe leading into my water/header/i dont know what it is? tank, was blowing air out of it into the water!! The water and the pipe were real hot.

I don't know what it all means?

I have an old system that was in the house when i moved in, the timer doesnt work, it runs from a back boiler, its' got an immersion heater in the water tank downstairs, the pump or something is noisy and there's two water tanks in the loft: a big metal one and a small plastic one (that's the one that has the bubbles and the hot water in it).

I know the solution to my problem is to get a whole new system installed, but im real poor at the moment and just cant afford it. ive tried to convince the wife to work the corners of an evening, but she aint havin' none of it.

Please help if you can, and sorry i waffled on a bit!

 

[chrishutt]

Might be a blocked feed pipe from the feed tank (small plastic one). you can check this by draining some water from the CH system (anywhere that's convenient) and seeing if water flows from the feed tank to replace this (turn off supply to float valve while doing this so feed tank does not refill). If not you have the problem of locating and clearing the blockage, for which do a search here or post again.

 

[ferociousbeast]

Thanks for the reply Chris. I'm not sure i know what you mean? But i'll have a look anyway.

When i push the float down water flows into the tank, but you means a different pipe going into the tank, right? But not the one that's blowing air out.
Once again, cheers m8, i'll check it out.

 

[chrishutt]

There are 3 pipes connecting to the feed tank. The water inlet pipe connects to the float valve, the vent pipe is a larger one that rises above the tank and then turns down to end at about the level of the top edge of the tank, and the feed pipe connects near the bottom of the tank.

There are other threads currently dealing with the same problem, so worth looking at those.

 

[ferociousbeast]

Is this your old house Chris? You certainly know your buisness. Thanks again m8.

 

[chrishutt]

It's standard in millions of installations. Did you think your system was unique?

 

[ferociousbeast]

LOL.........i know nothing about central heating!

 

[chrishutt]

Well. nows your chance to learn ..

 

[ferociousbeast]

Hey Chris, my wife has just shouted me, the radiator upstairs (there's only one) in the bathroom is hot and yet downstairs they are cool? The heating is not even on! What's that about?

 

[chrishutt]

You're not still running the heating, are you?

Until this problem is sorted, don't attempt to use the boiler. If it's low on water, all sorts of damage could result. Have you checked for a blockage yet?

 

[ferociousbeast]

the heating is off. The boiler is on, has been in use all summer. Haven't checked for a blockage yet, cant get into the loft without waking the kids. Will have a look tomorrow. Do you think i should turn the boiler off?
This problem only occurred today when i put the heating on. It hasnt made any strange noises for the past couple of hours.

 

[chrishutt]

Do you think i should turn the boiler off?

Ask your wife if she'd mind a dodgy boiler being left on all night. They always know best.




(the answer is "yes")

 

[ferociousbeast]

my wife is now saying that the bubbling noise first started after she had run the kids a bath???

 

[Nige F]

my wife is now saying that the bubbling noise first started after she had run the kids a bath???

THAT was IN the bath . You have got the Phantom ****ing Plumber in your loft. A working Class version of the Phantom of the Opera Are you in East Sussex

 

[ferociousbeast]

yeah i am Nig