brown sludge running down wall

gsp119

Hey

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on my gas boiler -

Combi boiler ( ideal branded) just had serviced 2 months ago

Recently started to drip brown water from small drain pipe over boiler outlet outside our apartment

Its staining the wall really bad ( a bit like a dirty protest :eek: )

any help would be appriciated

cheers

J

wee bey

This sounds like a faulty safety valve. The safety valve is fitted to prevent over temperature and pressure situations occuring within the boiler. Safety valves rated at 3 bar will release pressure in the system by letting water escape through the discharge pipe if the pressure exceeds 3bar.These are known to fail or not reseal after blowing. The brown colouring is the result of the water in the system reacting with the metals used in the system, hence the "rusty" appearance.An inhibitor chemically treats the water in the system to prevent corrosion. Should be easily fixed by a plumber.

aujopimur

It sounds like a safety valve discharging water from your heating system.
It's caused either by a faulty safety valve or over pressure in your system.

gsp119

Thanks guys, wasn't sure if i had to call a plumber or board gas.
hopefully won't be too exspensive

Flush the system before you add a inhibitor, inhibitor should only be added to clean water, from the description of the water colour if it's left running around your boiler it will shorten the life span of the boiler, Gary.

gsp119

Thanks Gary71 - I am a total novice with this type of situation, how do I flush the system? -- Thanks

If you try and get a sample of your heating water into a clear bottle then have a look at it, if you have any solids then i would power flush, if it's black then power flush(a power flush is done by a plumber with funky power flush equipment), if it's just brown then you can get away with putting in a cleaning agent, running your heating for a week then getting rid of all the water in the rads, boiler and pipework, you do this by fitting a hose turning off all the rads then turn on the filling loop/point and turning on each rad individually to run the water threw it, once you get the water coming out nice and clean add your inhibitor to the clean water, then happy days. Having brown water in your heating system normally means the water has a high chloride level, this can cause pumps to stick when they get hot and effect plastics, normally o-rings, so it worth getting it clean, in my experience the brown water is normally caused by inhibitor being added to a unflushed system, for more info on the chemicals have a look at http://www.sentinel-solutions.net/en/ and http://www.fernox.com/index.php?cccpage=products ,Gary.

gsp119

thanks gary.