Hello all, new to the forum, and being an electrical engineer I hope I can contribute in the future.
My first post however is asking for advice. We have two radiators on our central heating system that have developed bubbles in the paint finish. One is a normal radiator (lounge - Biasi P+) and the other is the kitchen towel rail (white painted finish).
The towel rail has bubbles where a few of the horizontal bars meet the uprights, these have a bit of rust staining however the metal underneath doesn't look to bad generally.
The lounge rad recently developed a bubble underneath on the back of a bottom 'fin'. Again, the metal doesn't appear particularly rusty underneath.
When the bubbles where first noticed, they were damp (and I think released some water when burst). Afterwards, they felt quite dry to the touch, but any leak could be slow enough to evaporate quickly?
They are not weeping considerably by any means, but there must be a leak to cause the bubbling right? I've also found we are topping up the boiler pressure (sealed system, combi boiler) once a week, maybe half a bar.
We are currently refurbishing the lounge, and when running some cables under the floors I took the opportunity to thoroughly check the pipe work. No signs of any leaks under the ground floor, and no damp patches to the ceilings either.
New Boiler and rads were fitted to existing pipe work approx 8 years ago. The system wasn't power flushed (didn't know any better at the time and it wasn't offered), it was treated with X100 however several room decorations later and topping up with mains probably means this is all but gone.
Questions:
1. Are the bubbles likely pin hole leaks?
2. Can these be repaired or is it safer to get a new rad (would be a shame, it looks pristine from the front)
The plan is to drain, fit new rads, mains flush a few times, run with X400 / X800 for a couple weeks, reflush and refill using X100.
Do you think this would be ok? I'd like to avoid the expense of a power flush if possible, the water is dark brown but doesn't seem sludgy.
Many thanks in advance,
Ian
My first post however is asking for advice. We have two radiators on our central heating system that have developed bubbles in the paint finish. One is a normal radiator (lounge - Biasi P+) and the other is the kitchen towel rail (white painted finish).
The towel rail has bubbles where a few of the horizontal bars meet the uprights, these have a bit of rust staining however the metal underneath doesn't look to bad generally.
The lounge rad recently developed a bubble underneath on the back of a bottom 'fin'. Again, the metal doesn't appear particularly rusty underneath.
When the bubbles where first noticed, they were damp (and I think released some water when burst). Afterwards, they felt quite dry to the touch, but any leak could be slow enough to evaporate quickly?
They are not weeping considerably by any means, but there must be a leak to cause the bubbling right? I've also found we are topping up the boiler pressure (sealed system, combi boiler) once a week, maybe half a bar.
We are currently refurbishing the lounge, and when running some cables under the floors I took the opportunity to thoroughly check the pipe work. No signs of any leaks under the ground floor, and no damp patches to the ceilings either.
New Boiler and rads were fitted to existing pipe work approx 8 years ago. The system wasn't power flushed (didn't know any better at the time and it wasn't offered), it was treated with X100 however several room decorations later and topping up with mains probably means this is all but gone.
Questions:
1. Are the bubbles likely pin hole leaks?
2. Can these be repaired or is it safer to get a new rad (would be a shame, it looks pristine from the front)
The plan is to drain, fit new rads, mains flush a few times, run with X400 / X800 for a couple weeks, reflush and refill using X100.
Do you think this would be ok? I'd like to avoid the expense of a power flush if possible, the water is dark brown but doesn't seem sludgy.
Many thanks in advance,
Ian
)
