pressure in oil fire central heating system

kavanagh_h

Hi

I have ofch in my new house three years now. There is a gadget in the hot press showing a dial and I was informed by the foreman that the needle should be at digit 2. This needle keeps going down to 0 and I have to turn a lever to allow water in to raise the pressure up to 2 again. I find that I have to do this more often now and I am a bit worried that this input of new water all the time is going to ruin the system with limescale.

Would it be very costly to get this fixed. I don't see any leaks in the house so I presume that it would be really hard to find it.

I did get a plumber to put in seal stuff but when i saw him using a small bottle i knew this wasn't going to be much use and for 60 quid I was ripped off.

Some info would be very much appreciated.

items

Limescale is not a problem, fresh water full of air is a problem, filling a system with fresh water all the time can corrode system from inside, lucky enough you have an oil boiler (thick metal) If you had gas, heat exchanger (thin metal) would soon need replacing depending on how many times you had to top up system.

Oil boiler will work under any pressure once its full with water, 1 bar to 1.5 bar pressure is fine, any more will cause boiler safety to open, safety opens @ 3.5 bar, when water heated its pressure increases around .5 of a bar.

Once you fill a system sealed and vent, system should stay full for a very long time, I fitted system in my folks house 8 years ago, still havent had to fill system since, just to give you an idea.

Best spend some time, figure out why you find yourself filling system regular. Have a look at boiler safety first, top of boiler should be a brass fitting with red or black plastic cap, should have a 1/2 copper pipe from safety terminating @ a safe place, check around that area. if its not there you'll have to check entire system where ever you can. If pipe work's leaking, rad or rads that require venting first may be close to leaking heating pipe work.

kavanagh_h

Thanks for that but I find the system gets very noisy as though water is running through pipes in the attic or something when this pressure is low. There is absolutely no water showing around any visible pipes in the whole house . Plumber said it could even be within the emersion itself but have no faith in this man at all. Had two plumbers. Unlucky with both. i live in very hard water area so scale is quite bad.

i am a single lady who is useless at diy but thanks for your post, its very informative.

danjo-xx

kavanagh_h wrote: »

Thanks for that but I find the system gets very noisy as though water is running through pipes in the attic or something when this pressure is low. There is absolutely no water showing around any visible pipes in the whole house . Plumber said it could even be within the emersion itself but have no faith in this man at all. Had two plumbers. Unlucky with both. i live in very hard water area so scale is quite bad.

i am a single lady who is useless at diy but thanks for your post, its very informative.

From what you've said I wouldn't have much faith in the plummer you've had.

Why not state what 'general area' you live in and ask if anyone here can recommend a good plumber who will do a good job at a fair price.

items

No problem, plumber putting leak sealer in a system only 3 years old is not really the way to do things. When plumber mentioned immersion, I think plumber ment heating coil, if coil is split / leaking then heating water is entering your domestic hot water, showers baths etc, thats not good, if plumber sensed that, he should not of left system in that way.

Low pressure along with noisy pipes sounds like a struggling heating system, leaking, full of air, bad circulation and so on.

You could have some kind of underground leak, from boiler to house, or radiator pipe work under concrete floor.

Ask about for a good plumber, ask plumber to isolate, separate and pressure test different parts of heating system to find any possible leaks.

Chances are the two plumbers already visited might not be experienced enough, you might only have some slight problem, one thats hard to find.

Heating system defo needs to be looked at asap.

kavanagh_h

Can anyone recommend a good plumber in Slane?

suitseir

kavanagh_h wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good plumber in Slane?

When I needed a good plumber some years back as where I live, there isn't one good plumber within a radius of 10 miles, my local hardware store recommended this guy who lives over 25 miles away and I have used him for the past 10 years. I might have to wait a long time for him, but I wouldn't use anybody else. The hardware shops have staff who will hear through the grapevine who is good and who isn't,failing that, the local pub - a haven for gossping men!