Hot water is Brown and has odor

BrookieD

Hi guys,
Just had a new gas boiler fitted with Magnaclean. Heating works great but when running the hot tap i get brown water which has a strong odor... this never appeard before new boiler.

I ran this water until cold and turned off the boiler, heated the water from immersion tank and it still remains clean so it related to the new boiler... any thoughts on the issues?

mcgragger

BrookieD wrote: »

Hi guys,
Just had a new gas boiler fitted with Magnaclean. Heating works great but when running the hot tap i get brown water which has a strong odor... this never appeard before new boiler.

I ran this water until cold and turned off the boiler, heated the water from immersion tank and it still remains clean so it related to the new boiler... any thoughts on the issues?

The gas boiler should be a closed circuit for heating, ie the system is filled then closed, so its the same water that circulated in your heating pipes.
The water in the tank comes from the attic tank.

Did he do anything with your hot water cylinder ?

BrookieD

Did he do anything with your hot water cylinder ?
No

WE just had an issue with a boiler, this result in a direct replacement, so he took old boiler out, new boiler in, added magnaclean and tested to make sure rads all heated etc...

BrookieD

just noticed the pressure has dropped it well below 1bar

mcgragger

Is there brown water coming out of all of your hot taps?

Its two seperate pipe systems so I am struggling to understand why there is brown water coming from your taps.

Unless there is a split/leak in your cylinder coil the two water streams cant mix.

mcgragger

BrookieD wrote: »

just noticed the pressure has dropped it well below 1bar

Which is ok as long as its not gone below .5bar.

Any lower and you may have a leak, when was this done?

Sleeper12

BrookieD wrote:

just noticed the pressure has dropped it well below 1bar

If the coil in the cylinder is leaking & the filling loop for the heating is shut then I'd expect the pressure to drop to 1/4 to 1/8 of a bar of pressure in a short period of time.

Cerco

Sleeper12 wrote: »

If the coil in the cylinder is leaking & the filling loop for the heating is shut then I'd expect the pressure to drop to 1/4 to 1/8 of a bar of pressure in a short period of time.

If they flushed the system and the coil was already weak would that cause the problem you describe?

BrookieD

mcgragger wrote: »

Which is ok as long as its not gone below .5bar.

Any lower and you may have a leak, when was this done?

its .3 bar i think..
Was fitted Friday, talking to a plumber he thinks there is a leak in the hotwater tank from the coil and it needs replacing... nightmare :mad:

Sleeper12

Cerco wrote: »

If they flushed the system and the coil was already weak would that cause the problem you describe?

Was your old system pressurized or an open system with an expansion tank in the attic?


The reason I ask is if it was open system then you could have had a leak & not know as there would be equal pressure inside & outside the coil. Leak is very noticeable on pressurizes system as 1/8 bar pressure in cylinder & 1 + bar in coil

Cerco

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Was your old system pressurized or an open system with an expansion tank in the attic?


The reason I ask is if it was open system then you could have had a leak & not know as there would be equal pressure inside & outside the coil. Leak is very noticeable on pressurizes system as 1/8 bar pressure in cylinder & 1 + bar in coil

Apologies, I was thinking about the Op’s system. I was wondering would a flush have greater pressure than the pressure in a pressurised system, thereby showing up the coil fault.

Sleeper12

Cerco wrote:

Apologies, I was thinking about the Op’s system. I was wondering would a flush have greater pressure than the pressure in a pressurised system, thereby showing up the coil fault.

I quoted you thinking that you were the OP.

I don't do heating & have never used a power flushing machine so happy to be corrected but I doubt power flushing uses greater pressure than the heating system is designed for.

The timing could be a coincidence. I've often been blamed on socket trip switches tripping a few days after I repaired a shower even though the shower has its own dedicated trip switch not connected to sockets. Phone calls 3 weeks after my visit because they have an airlock on the hot supply even though an electric shower only has a cold supply and has a dedicated supply directly from the cold water tank. The last tradesman on the job always gets blamed first

BrookieD

Just discovered a small leak in the hot press, there is a pipe that is attached to the main rad pipes that just goes up about 2 ft and has an end point with a small red plastic screw top. this red top was unscrewed and leaking... i tightened this and thinking would this be cause of the low pressure in the gas boiler? can add photo if needed

mcgragger

BrookieD wrote: »

Just discovered a small leak in the hot press, there is a pipe that is attached to the main rad pipes that just goes up about 2 ft and has an end point with a small red plastic screw top. this red top was unscrewed and leaking... i tightened this and thinking would this be cause of the low pressure in the gas boiler? can add photo if needed

yeah put up a photo.

Could be a pressure relief valve. They only release high pressure though.

mcgragger

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I quoted you thinking that you were the OP.

I don't do heating & have never used a power flushing machine so happy to be corrected but I doubt power flushing uses greater pressure than the heating system is designed for.

The timing could be a coincidence. I've often been blamed on socket trip switches tripping a few days after I repaired a shower even though the shower has its own dedicated trip switch not connected to sockets. Phone calls 3 weeks after my visit because they have an airlock on the hot supply even though an electric shower only has a cold supply and has a dedicated supply directly from the cold water tank. The last tradesman on the job always gets blamed first

I did a shower replacement 3 weeks ago and the guy in the house asked me why the floor was wet. I looked as I was there anyway. Took side panel of bath off - bad leak from taps and bath seal is gone and the tap seals were completely corroded with scale. The scale build up was savage. The bathroom hadn't been cleaned in about 5 years by the looks of it and the room itself was 15/16 years old. Piggy dirty. I told him to get on to his landlord. He rang me back and said his Landlord wanted the money back for the shower to pay for the leaks and damage that I had apparently caused! :eek::eek::eek::rolleyes:
I sent her a report of what I had found ( I took pics) and asked her to point out what part of the leak I caused!! She never responded!!:D

astrofool

BrookieD wrote: »

Just discovered a small leak in the hot press, there is a pipe that is attached to the main rad pipes that just goes up about 2 ft and has an end point with a small red plastic screw top. this red top was unscrewed and leaking... i tightened this and thinking would this be cause of the low pressure in the gas boiler? can add photo if needed

That little red cap is meant to be loose to allow pressure to escape, untighten back the way it was and put a bucket or something under it to catch any drips, get a plumber back as soon as you can (sounds like a hot water tank replacement).