dripping flow pipe?

[zenonithus]

Hey all, so my water pressure dropped to zero after bleeding out the rads. This flow pipe was already connected and I just turned the lever on the right to let water in. The dial went up to 1.5 bar so turned it off. I then turned off the black lever on the left to shut off the water at that end.
I left it still connected for two days when I came home water had soaked into the floor below. Seemed to be dripping from the right side connection. Also the pressure had dropped by just under half a bar.
So disconnected it and put a cap on the boiler end. Though the flow pipe still seems to drip every now and then at the open end on the right. It is advised this should be left detached but I don’t trust it without a bucket underneath. Any idea why the sudden drips whilst connected and disconnected?

 

[Burnerman]

Make sure the thumb turn on the RH connection is tight.....if it still leaks there may be a perished rubber washer on the filling loop flexible hose.
Once you have sorted the pressure, turn both black valves firmly off.
John

 

[zenonithus]

cheers John. So in theory can I take the hose off and no water should leak out? Can I just replace the runner washer?

 

[lostinthelight]

If that was my plumbing I would be cleaning off the oxidisation before the tube perforates and making sure they were not rubbing.
litl

 

[zenonithus]

good point! Will need to look for ways to clean it. I'm away today so hoping I don't come back to a big bucket of water!

Another thing that is quite scary, when I turn the left lever to shut the water off its fine, though when turning it on there is this huge jolt to the pipes. Is this just the water pressure from the mains?

 

[lostinthelight]

Mains pressure too high. Air in the system, loose pipe work can cause a jolt.
litl

 

[zenonithus]

yeah I keep getting air in some of the rads even after bleeding them a few days earlier. Hope there is no lose pipe leaking dropping the pressure :-O

 

[dilalio]

yeah I keep getting air in some of the rads even after bleeding them a few days earlier. Hope there is no lose pipe leaking dropping the pressure :-O

Top the pressure up to the correct level.
Remove the filling loop hose and buy and fit compression caps with rubber washers to the open ends of the NRV and lever valve.
If your system pressure drops over the following days then you have a leak elsewhere on the system and need to pinpoint that.
You should not need to be topping up every day/week/month! Maybe once or twice a year at most.

 

[zenonithus]

Hi dilalio. Would you be able to find a link for one of these pressure caps? I'm not sure if I'm looking at the right thing. I did by an end cap in the plumbing shop. It just screws on with no rubber inside. Could I just put a rubber washer inside it? See pic.

Also I'm seeing lots of blue green inside both the flow pipe end and the lever valve end the cap is on. Is this bad? Do I need to replace the flow pipe and valves or can this be cleaned out?

 

[dilalio]

Better for the archives and future readers if you refer to the component by its proper name: It is a Filling Loop kit.

The cap you have on the right is a compression cap. Just get another one for other side and a couple of rubber washers to go inside them.
The Green you see inside has been caused by a trickle of water from the lever valve letting by, which has reacted with air.

Until you have ruled out leaks elsewhere on the system, I would just cap it all off for now and replace the filling loop when you've confirmed/eliminated other defects.

 

[zenonithus]

ok cool will go back to the plumbing shop to pick up another cap and some rubber washers.

yeah I haven't noticed much drop in the pressure yet. I originally filled it to 1.5 bar then it dropped to 1.2 bar not sure why but water could have trickled out the valve due to lever not being closed enough.

however after two days the pressure is still at 1.2 bar. If there was a leak would this be dropping down by now? I haven't had the heating on in 3 days some might run it for an hour to check all is ok. Though might need to bleed the rads I've turned off for a while.

 

[zenonithus]

also do you think I should replace the flexible pipe only and ok to leave the valves? Not sure about replacing valves myself as I would need to shut the water off?

 

[dilalio]

Bleed all the air out you can. Starting at bottom and working upwards. Get system pressure to 1.4 cold and then put the heating on and leave for a couple of hours.
Then bleed upstairs rads/towel tails again as circulation may have push more air to the top. Then cap off both sides of filling loop and monitor the pressure over a week.

 

[dilalio]

also do you think I should replace the flexible pipe only and ok to leave the valves? Not sure about replacing valves myself as I would need to shut the water off?

If NRV and/or isolator is letting by then you'll need to change the whole thing!

But you CAN leave the existing nuts on the copper pipe.

 

[zenonithus]

EMERGENCY guys! I put the heating on and now the dial has gone to 2 bar?! So from around 1.3 when cold. Shall I turn off the heating? Bleed the rads? Hope I'm not damaging the system