Vokera combi boiler has water dripping from overflow pipe

[murrayrfc]

Boiler seems to be working fine although Water is dripping from the overflow and causing a mess.

I have turned the bleed screw on one of my radiator to try let air out and also checked that the top-up valve was not letting water through.

Note: I couldn't find a pressure gauge on the system!

I don't know much about boilers any help would be nice.

thanks!!

 

[muggles]

Does it drip constantly or just when the system is warming up/hot?

 

[murrayrfc]

the overflow pipe drips constantly

 

[muggles]

Hang on...just noticed you've said overflow pipe. Is it a condensing combi, and is this a plastic pipe about 20mm diameter? Or do you mean a 15mm copper pipe from the pressure relief?

 

[glasgowgas]

what model of vokera do you have cant think of one without a pressure
gauge

if its leaking from external 15mm copper pipe

it could be caused by a few things

post back with more info please

 

[murrayrfc]

Its just a normal combi boiler. Yes the 15mm copper pipe from the pressure relief that goes to the outside of my building.

Its a Vokera option boiler.

It uses light system to tell when to top up pressure i think. not the best design!

Do you think there will be a pressure gauge behind the cover?

 

[glasgowgas]

you can download the manual from vokeras website

yes the gauge is behind the cover, open the filling loop slowly,take gauge to 1.3 bar,give pump a bleed, give all your rads a bleed should fire now.

put on ch and run. check pressure. what happens to it,does it climb to 3 bar or does it rise not much.

post back with results

 

[murrayrfc]

I opened cover, the pressure was sittin at 2.5 bar then rised to just under 4 bar when CH was on.

Therefore I downloaded manual and it tells to lower system pressure, pull on lever on head of safety valve to release water until required pressure.

I followed this but as soon as I got the pressure down to 1 bar and shut of safety valve, the pressure just started rising again......

How is it just rising again? What should I do now?

 

[charliechaplinspants]

How is it just rising again? What should I do now?

Might be a split diaphragm in your expansion vessel, if you hang on a little longer there will be a queue here giving you an answer, as long as it`s not the same as mine. Or slagging me off, one or t`other.

 

[charliechaplinspants]

Hang on...just noticed you've said overflow pipe. Is it a condensing combi, and is this a plastic pipe about 20mm diameter?

If it`s external then it is hardly likely to be the condensate pipe, which would be in 40mm. Or is 20mm the size of condensate pipe you use externally.

 

[DP]

I got the pressure down to 1 bar and shut of safety valve, the pressure just started rising again......

Charlie, can you explain why above would happen if the EV was knackered? What is the connection between EV and pressure rising continuously?

 

[murrayrfc]

"Might be a split diaphragm in your expansion vessel"

How can I find out if its the expansion vessel? How do I prove its the problem or not?

And if it wasnt the expansion vessel what else could it be?

 

[muggles]

If the pressure's continually rising and you're sure that the filling loop is shut off properly then it's probably a cracked heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is a part of the boiler that transfers heat from the heating circuit in the boiler to your hot water (in very general terms).

As this has both heating water and water to be heated for your taps passing through it, seperated by a metal plate, it will allow the mains water (which is at a higher pressure) to be forced into your heating system if the separating metal plate cracks. This causes the continual rise in pressure, and means the HE needs replacing.

I've tried to keep this in 'simple' terms rather than getting technical...hope you understand and can see what the problem is. You do need to be sure that the filling loop is shutting off correctly as well though, if it isn't then this could also cause a pressure rise.

 

[muggles]

Removed by author

 

[BingoBongo]

if the pressure is rising when the boiler is not operational-heat ex pinholed


if its only doing it when heating is on -exp vess or the exp vess hose choked