gas boiler loosing pressure

channelsurfer2

Hi I have a Ferolli opitmax gas boiler that has been causing trouble since it was installed last may.

the rads wouldnt work and the plumber has been called out 6 times to powerflush the system, put a second pump in the attic and fix a small leak at the hotpress that he said could be the cause of the loss of pressure.

anyway at the last visit by the plumber which installed a replacement pump for the one that lasted a week in the hotpress the heat appears to work fine. however the old problem of pressure loss has not been fixed. i filled it with water up to 1.5 bar which i was told to do by the builder and wait a week to see what happens. anyway it went down to 0.6bar in that week and the builder say re-fill it again to see what happens it could be an air lock. its now down to just over .75 bar since the last refill.

could it be a loss of water at the boiler itself through the pressure release valve or is it a small drip somewhere in the house system? the last plumber also removed the filter in the boiler "to help it heat up quicker" as thats what the ferolli engineer advised him? the boiler is now very noisy and seems to be flying through gas without the small coil like filter? (granted it heats up a lot quicker) should i request it be placed back in?

at this stage i feel like throwing the thing out the window.

Power flushing after a boiler has been fitted to a dirty system doesn't guarantee the boiler is OK, at times running a boiler on a dirty system is like putting sand in your car engine and then hoping you can clean it all out afterward, the dirt that was in your boiler could have effected the discharge, you can look to see if there is any water outside or tape a bottle to the outlet to see if it's passing water, if you can't see where the pipe terminates then you could think about replacing the valve, if it's not the valve then it would suggest the problem is with your heating system and you will have to walk the system looking for signs of damp. You may have to have more inhibitor poured in to the heating system because if you are losing water you are diluting or losing your inhibitor as well.
Removing the filter has just improved circulation and the bills will match this improvment, modern boilers are very economic and it's how the heat is used thats wasteful rather than the boiler generating the heat. At this stage i would get the manufactures involved if you can to advise you on the boiler or get a separate boiler engineer to confirm the boiler setup is correct, Gary.

channelsurfer2

thanks for that great advice. have walked the system and the plumber has as well but couldnt find any obvious other leak. what is the outlet valve or where is it located? there is a vent at the wall that steam releases out to the open??

Try to down load the manual it will be easier to identify thing.Your boiler will have a 3 bar discharge valve which opens when the system pressure reaches 3 bar, a copper pipe should be fitted to this and it should terminate in a safe place, what that means is if you look under the boiler there should be a 1/2 inch pipe going out the wall, so that if the valve opens you don't flood the kitchen, because the valve pipework terminates outside you could be losing water and not spot it, go outside look in line with the flue and hopefully you will see a small pipe sticking out the wall, put a bottle on it and see if it fills over time, as the boiler is still under warranty phone the manufactures direct and get them involved, just don't mention the power flush, Gary.

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Sounds like a nightmare, as above first port of call is boiler safety. If no joy there you might have a damaged expansion vessel, vessel can effect system pressure. After obvious boiler stuff next up is pipework, anything leaking upstairs should be visible so if you haven't already check ceiling for stains. Find out how your heating is filled and where, you could be losing pressure back through filling point, all depends.

If no boiler problem or no stains then all your left with is downstairs, finding leaks here is tricky, could be behind wall or below ground. Without being able to see leak heating system would have to be separated and isolated then pressure tested to look out for drop in pressure over different sections of pipework. If you've an old system with GB pipework then this could be your problem. Happens often. Another possible leak is fractured cylinder coil, but chances are slim.

The removal of return filter is an old trick, if this is what service person took out then I'd look into having filter returned. Boiler makers know what they are doing, everything inside a boiler is there for a reason, removing parts may lead to problems further down the line. How sure are you boiler maker said its ok to remove filter? If your just going from the words of service person then its up to you at end of day.