Leaking Boiler
Do you've got a leaking boiler?
Assuming you have a boiler that you may think is leaking, but cannot see any type of leak, what do you do?
First we have to establish which kind of boiler you have, is it a combination boiler, system boiler or heat only boiler.
With combination and system boilers they work under high pressure, with heat only boilers they're sometimes are pressurised, or work under low pressure.
With all boilers that are pressurised you will see a pressure gauge suited to either leading of the boiler or near by on the pipe work.
A leaking boiler isn't always a leaking boiler, I know that might sound strange, but it's true. Each one of these boilers working under ruthless should have an expansion vessel fitted either internally or externally, this is normally the reason for a leaking boiler.
Just how do we resolve the leaking boiler problem?
First you should have your boiler serviced each year without fail, if you decide not to have your boiler serviced then at sometime in the future you will have a pricey repair bill and even the cost of a fresh boiler.
So why is it vital that you have your boiler serviced?
The times of not bothering to service your boiler have long gone, these boilers were very basic and not much went wrong with them, the most typical problem was that the thermal coupling needed to be changed. These boilers weren't very efficient around 40% of one's fuel bill went of the flue and another 60% into you're heat.
Since the introduction of the high efficiency condensing boilers it's been very important to possess them serviced each year. These boilers are designed to give the best performance and most of all save you on your energy bill.
Whenever a boiler service is completed we have been looking first to be sure everything continues to be safe, there are no combustion or gas leaks, checking over the flue making sure the product of combustion are exiting to the outside as they should.
We have a combustion reading with a combustion analyser and check that the boiler when running is at the boiler makers parameters, if the reading are not correct then we carry out further investigation to discover why, then reset.
Next we come to the most typical problem with one of these boilers.
The expansion vessel, The expansion vessel is a very important section of your boiler and heating system, if this isn't working properly then you will have problems. The most typical problem could be the loss of system pressure, most people describe this as a leaking boiler.
In fact it's not a leaking boiler, it's an expansion vessel problem. The vessel should be checked every year and reset for your boiler to provide its best performance, once the vessel it not checked, as time passes it will stop working.
The Boiler Service
When you call in your neighborhood gas safe registered boiler service engineer to service your boiler, ask him to ensure the expansion vessel is checked over and reset if needed. For some reason whenever a boiler service is carried out, the expansion vessel is apparently left out and not checked, not all of the time but around 80% of that time period. When you browse the boiler makers instructions on boiler service they say that the expansion ought to be checked and reset if needed.
So what happens to the expansion vessel?
The easiest way to describe the expansion vessel is, its just like a car tyre, over time it is going to go flat. Helpful hints may be the same, it really is pumped up with an automobile pump to a Pressure that's compatible to the type of heating system you have.
If the vessel loses its pressure then it'll begin to fill with water internally, once this starts to happen most people start to think they could have a leaking boiler.
The expansion vessel functions by taking up the expansion of the water since it heats up within you're heating system. If the vessel does not have any internal pressure then it'll fill with water, once full, your boiler will then start to discharge water through the pressure relief valve, release a the pressure to avoid pipes bursting.