Pressure keeps increasing

Arbitrary

Hi Folks,

Plumbing dumbass here but I'm interested to get to the root of the problem. If need been I'll call out a plumber but perhaps there's a simple solution i'm missing.

This is a condensor boiler with a Grundfos pump.

Just before xmas there was no heating up stairs, when I checked the pressure it was down to zero, as intructed by plumbers I let water into the system by opening up the tap to the left of the picture. I left it open a little too long the pressure climbed up to 2.5 bar. Recommended pressure is 1-1.5 bar.

A quick read online and I found the quickest method to release pressure was to let water out of the rads.

I've been monitoring the pressure each day and after each morning timer cycle the pressure seems to rise back up to 2-2.5 bar but not during the day or at the evening timer cycle. I've been draining a bit of water out of the rads each day. As it was at 1.8 bar yesterday I figured perhaps the problem had sorted itself, so I didn't drain any water yesterday. This morning I woke up and the pressure was up at 3 bar.

Pic attached. What might be causing the pressure to keeping increasing on a daily basis? There's obviously water getting into the system but how if I've turned off the inlet tap?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm about ready to call a plumber out but thought I'd see if anyone here could offer some suggestions/help.

Advbrd

Are you sure the tap letting water into the system is fully shut?

Arbitrary

Advbrd wrote: »

Are you sure the tap letting water into the system is fully shut?

Yes, tightly shut as advised. Shut off turning counter clockwise, I did get a phone call while I was refilling the system. It dawned on me that perhaps I've invariably left it open? But if it was left fully open surely I'd be seeing far bigger increases than .5-1 bar each 24 hour period?

Calahonda52

Arbitrary wrote: »

Yes, tightly shut as advised. Shut off turning counter clockwise, I did get a phone call while I was refilling the system. It dawned on me that perhaps I've invariably left it open? But if it was left fully open surely I'd be seeing far bigger increases than .5-1 bar each 24 hour period?

the pic shows the valve on the flexi open.
when u say off anticlockwise are u working on the pressure relief valve that is shown? i see fresh gunter marks on the brass?
can u post a pic of the other end of the flexi pls.

is the flow upwards in the picture?

Arbitrary

Calahonda52 wrote: »

the pic shows the valve on the flexi open.
when u say off anticlockwise are u working on the pressure relief valve that is shown? i see fresh gunter marks on the brass?
can u post a pic of the other end of the flexi pls.

is the flow upwards in the picture?

Most of that terminology went over my head, sorry. Thanks for replying.

More pics attached. Previously I did use the pressure relief valve to increase pressure, but another plumber told me when the system goes to zero to simply use the tap on the left to refill the system. So I opened it clockwise and closed it counterclockwise. I've highlighted the tap in the 3rd pic with a red box.

Link to all pics - https://postimg.org/gallery/np75octw/

Thanks again.

What I find strange is that the pressure only rises when I wake up each morning. Throughout the day the pressure stays the same.

Calahonda52

Is the red handles gate valve on the left of pic 1 open or shut right now?

ie is it fully open anti clockwise or fully shut , clockwise.
The black valve is open so maybe shut it, black lever will be across the pipe rather than in line and see what happens.

Arbitrary

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Is the red handles gate valve on the left of pic 1 open or shut right now?

Should it be open or closed? I didn't touch it when refilling. All was well before I topped up the system. The only thing I did was let water into the system via the tap highlighted in Picture 3. I'll check now.

Calahonda52

So I am guessing here, based on what you have written.
The filling loop was always open.

Depending where you are living the LA drops the pressure every night to save waste on leaks.

Are you on a public supply or your own pump or group water scheme supply

Arbitrary

Calahonda52 wrote: »

So I am guessing here, based on what you have written.
The filling loop was always open.

Depending where you are living the LA drops the pressure every night to save waste on leaks.

Are you on a public supply or your own pump or group water scheme supply

Public supply, hmm ok. Perhaps I should just get a plumber out to sort this. I emptied water out of the rads at 9am this morning. Pressure hasn't budged since then so you may well be right. Before I call someone, do you have any suggestions to remedy this?

Calahonda52

if u have enough pressure now, shut off the red valve, clockwise,
close off the black valve as advised earlier and leave it sit.
The pressure gauge wont move because its on the wrong side of the flexi. It is showing the pressure on the down stream side of the autofill valve so when u shut both valves it will just show pressure in the public main, after the PRV.
Draining water from the system is a bad idea as u dilute the inhibitor in the rads, thats stops rusting.

Have u a pressure gauge on the boiler? if not you need one on the left hand side of the flexi so as it measure the circuit pressure, which will go up when system gets hot.
This made me smile
What I find strange is that the pressure only rises when I wake up each morning.

Okay maybe I am easily amused

Arbitrary

Calahonda52 wrote: »

if u have enough pressure now, shut off the red valve, clockwise,
close off the black valve as advised earlier and leave it sit.
The pressure gauge wont move because its on the wrong side of the flexi. It is showing the pressure on the down stream side of the PRV so when u shut both valves it will just show pressure in the public main, after the PRV.
Draining water from the system is a bad idea as u dilute the inhibitor in the rads, thats stops rusting.

Have u a pressure gauge on the boiler? if not you need one on the left hand side of the flexi so as it measure the circuit pressure, which will go up when system gets hot.
This made me smile
What I find strange is that the pressure only rises when I wake up each morning.

Okay maybe I am easily amused

Haha, yes the system seems to have a serious case of morning glory.

There's one other pressure gauge you can see at the bottom of pic 3. Here's a picture of it, would that be it? Oddly, when I closed the filling loop clockwise the pressure increased.

Pics. https://postimg.org/gallery/1oedte7be/

As a precaution a reopened the filling loop and the pressure lowered on this pressure guage which is at the bottom of pic 3. Hmmm. Could be entirely unrelated the washing machine was running and taking water while I was checking it.

Double edit, unrelated. Reclosed filling loop and pressure on the 2nd gauge is stable.

Thanks a million for the help, I'll keep an eye out to see if this sorts it and I owe you a few pints for your time and help.

Calahonda52

Glad to point you in the right direction, can u post a shot, at your leisure, of the second pressure gauge in context of the other one, its tough to see in the original pic 3 and its out of context in the recent ones.

It will help the experts when they come on later.

Paullimerick

Call a plumber and get him to change that fill valve. Tell him put in a pressure reducing valve which are a lot better. Them fill valves are known to leak through. And the mains pressure is higher at night than any other time of the day thus causing it to rise higher at night.

Arbitrary

Paullimerick wrote: »

Call a plumber and get him to change that fill valve. Tell him put in a pressure reducing valve which are a lot better. Them fill valves are known to leak through. And the mains pressure is higher at night than any other time of the day thus causing it to rise higher at night.

Thanks for the info! if it goes up again over night I know what I need to do.

Fingers crossed. I'll get another pic up shortly.

agusta

Arbitrary wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Plumbing dumbass here but I'm interested to get to the root of the problem. If need been I'll call out a plumber but perhaps there's a simple solution i'm missing.

This is a condensor boiler with a Grundfos pump.

Just before xmas there was no heating up stairs, when I checked the pressure it was down to zero, as intructed by plumbers I let water into the system by opening up the tap to the left of the picture. I left it open a little too long the pressure climbed up to 2.5 bar. Recommended pressure is 1-1.5 bar.

A quick read online and I found the quickest method to release pressure was to let water out of the rads.

I've been monitoring the pressure each day and after each morning timer cycle the pressure seems to rise back up to 2-2.5 bar but not during the day or at the evening timer cycle. I've been draining a bit of water out of the rads each day. As it was at 1.8 bar yesterday I figured perhaps the problem had sorted itself, so I didn't drain any water yesterday. This morning I woke up and the pressure was up at 3 bar.

Pic attached. What might be causing the pressure to keeping increasing on a daily basis? There's obviously water getting into the system but how if I've turned off the inlet tap?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm about ready to call a plumber out but thought I'd see if anyone here could offer some suggestions/help.

The flexible filling hose is plumbed on the wrong side of the automatic fill valve.The way it has been working the flexible filling hose was part of your heating system.this is incorrect.The automatic fill valve is leaving water pass even when closed.this is a common enough fault.Its only a small job for a plumber/service technician to fix

Calahonda52

I don't agree with leaving it on auto fill as it hides leaks which will lead to the inhibitor being diluted.
In addition do the regs not require the loop to be disconnected if fed from rising main?

Arbitrary

agusta wrote: »

The flexible filling hose is plumbed on the wrong side of the automatic fill valve.The way it has been working the flexible filling hose was part of your heating system.this is incorrect.The automatic fill valve is leaving water pass even when closed.this is a common enough fault.Its only a small job for a plumber/service technician to fix

Thanks a million. I'm not surprised to discover this. There's been a long list of problems with the system.

Paullimerick wrote: »

Call a plumber and get him to change that fill valve. Tell him put in a pressure reducing valve which are a lot better. Them fill valves are known to leak through. And the mains pressure is higher at night than any other time of the day thus causing it to rise higher at night.

Aha. Brilliant and thanks for the suggestion, I'll get this done too while he's out.

I can't thank you all enough for the help, I'm a little less of a plumbing dumb ass too as a result.

Arbitrary

Calahonda52 wrote: »

I don't agree with leaving it on auto fill as it hides leaks which will lead to the inhibitor being diluted.
In addition do the regs not require the loop to be disconnected if fed from rising main?

Your suggestion did help to alleviate the issue but as another poster suggested it didn't completely solve it, pressure gauge is showing a .25 bar increase this morning. Plumber called.