Under Floor Heating: Floor boards darkening

The wonderfish

Just noticed this (see pic attached) - floor boards darkening and slight warping. The house is warm so not regularly turning on the heating but have noticed this room to have floors warm even though temperature dial was at 0.

Anyone have a suggestion as to what is going on here/remedial action needed?

copacetic

That looks like a leak to me, I’ve similar coloured floors and no marking like that at all. Can you borrow a thermal camera? Will see the piping clearly on it and be able to tell if there is leaking by lack of good outlines in that section.

K.Flyer

Thats definitely a damp / leak issue.
Are you regularly having to re-pressurise your heating system?
Most likely your heating system is pressurised and if it is you need to check that the filling valve (pressure top up valve) is definitely closed.
If it is open you need to shut it closed and monitor the pressure gauge for a drop in the pressure.
Is there a bathroom / kitchen / utility room behind the wall on the left of the image, or a bathroom above?

Wearb

Probably the old fashioned way of sorting a leak, auto fill valve. Sure way to f up a system .

The wonderfish

K.Flyer wrote: »

Thats definitely a damp / leak issue.
Are you regularly having to re-pressurise your heating system?
Most likely your heating system is pressurised and if it is you need to check that the filling valve (pressure top up valve) is definitely closed.
If it is open you need to shut it closed and monitor the pressure gauge for a drop in the pressure.
Is there a bathroom / kitchen / utility room behind the wall on the left of the image, or a bathroom above?

Thanks for the suggestion, I have just recently bought the house so haven’t done anything with the heating system

Yes there is a utility room directly behind the wall to the left and that also houses the boiler - tbh haven’t a clue where to start with checking the filling valve, I have attached another picture of the setup in the boiler cabinet - is there something here I can adjust?

Thanks again

The wonderfish

Wearb wrote: »

Probably the old fashioned way of sorting a leak, auto fill valve. Sure way to f up a system .

Thanks for the suggestion- as per my earlier reply I am not familiar with heating systems at all!!....is there a simple guide as to how to do this?

Cheers

Wearb

The wonderfish wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion- as per my earlier reply I am not familiar with heating systems at all!!....is there a simple guide as to how to do this?

Cheers

Look for a silver/chrome coloured braided flexible hose (about 1/2 metre long) somewhere and post a wide angle image of it and surrounding pipework.
BUT best option would be to have a plumber give it the once over.

The wonderfish

Wearb wrote: »

Look for a silver/chrome coloured braided flexible hose (about 1/2 metre long) somewhere and post a wide angle image of it and surrounding pipework.
BUT best option would be to have a plumber give it the once over.

Cheers see attached. Any advice? I will also check with plumber but if something quick I could do that would great

Wearb

The wonderfish wrote: »

Cheers see attached. Any advice? I will also check with plumber but if something quick I could do that would great

That supply is turned off, as it should normally be. There should be a gauge on the heating side of that pipe. If you have a pressure reading on that gauge without that supply having been turned on, it's mot a leak. That's assuming valve and gauge is working correctly.

K.Flyer

The filling loop is that silver braided hose with the small black lever at one end.
The black lever is in the Closed position.
What pressure is showing on the heating system, usually indicated by a gauge on the boiler or a digital reading.
Also, check along the bottom of the wall in the utility room adjoining the wall where the wood is stained and look for any signs of damp.
Check the bottom and all joints of the larger white pipe that has the thinner white pipe going into it.

The wonderfish

Wearb wrote: »

That supply is turned off, as it should normally be. There should be a gauge on the heating side of that pipe. If you have a pressure reading on that gauge without that supply having been turned on, it's mot a leak. That's assuming valve and gauge is working correctly.

K.Flyer wrote: »

The filling loop is that silver braided hose with the small black lever at one end.
The black lever is in the Closed position.
What pressure is showing on the heating system, usually indicated by a gauge on the boiler or a digital reading.
Also, check along the bottom of the wall in the utility room adjoining the wall where the wood is stained and look for any signs of damp.
Check the bottom and all joints of the larger white pipe that has the thinner white pipe going into it.

There are 2 pressure gauges which appear to be showing a reading (see wide angle picture) and also the digital reading is showing as 1.0 bar.

I checked and no sign sign of damp anywhere, any other thoughts?

Thanks for all advice

K.Flyer

Pressure on the boiler (Glowworm) is fine, just keep a watch on it.
All other gauges on the manifolds (all the pipes connected to them) are temperature gauges.
So given all that we can see it would appear that you have a sealed system. Presuming that the filling loop in the picture is the only filling point and water supply for the system and that the heating has been running fine with no pressure loss, then is unlikely that you have a leak on the underfloor pipework.

My suggestion for now is to monitor the water pressure on the boiler, it will fluctuate as it heats and cools, but a leak will show a steady decrease.
Get yourself a good damp meter and check the stained areas and compare readings with other parts of the floor, this will help you determine just how bad it might be.

The wonderfish

K.Flyer wrote: »

Pressure on the boiler (Glowworm) is fine, just keep a watch on it.
All other gauges on the manifolds (all the pipes connected to them) are temperature gauges.
So given all that we can see it would appear that you have a sealed system. Presuming that the filling loop in the picture is the only filling point and water supply for the system and that the heating has been running fine with no pressure loss, then is unlikely that you have a leak on the underfloor pipework.

My suggestion for now is to monitor the water pressure on the boiler, it will fluctuate as it heats and cools, but a leak will show a steady decrease.
Get yourself a good damp meter and check the stained areas and compare readings with other parts of the floor, this will help you determine just how bad it might be.

Thanks will get hold of a damp meter and check that out

blackbox

I agree that it looks like it was caused by dampness, but bear in mind that it's possible that the source is something other than the ufh.

K.Flyer

blackbox wrote: »

I agree that it looks like it was caused by dampness, but bear in mind that it's possible that the source is something other than the ufh.

If there is no pressure loss on the heating system it eliminates UFH being the issue.