new boiler/losing pressure/water help

bwatt00

Need some help i had a boiler that was approx 18yrs old maybe older and it finally needed replaced,i think it was the expansion vessel that was gone on it,i was losing water from it when it was switched off,so near everyday i needed to top it up,and the water was escaping outside.

Now i ordered a new boiler vokera from mr central heating and had a local plumber install it,he did a good job and all looked ok but since he has done the job i would say its been topped up with water 3 times or was it 4 cant remember.
One time it was just showing on the red and thought it best to top up and anyway if its on the red does it do harm,pther time it was not working and needed reset so it much have went lower and next time it was same as first.

Now my plumber said when i asked him how much times i needed to top with water he said about every 3/6 months,well i have topped it up within about 4 week about three times which is not right.
I looked at the boiler and i cant see any leaks coming from it so he did his job right?But he said if i am having to top it up like this in such short time then there must be a leak somewhere.
I checked my radiators and there is nothing so i am puzzled,he then said it maybe under my floor boards.
Problem is where could be anywhere,there is a shop below me and i asked if any water coming through roof they could not see anything.
Its a minor leak but i have no idea where its leaking it thats the problem.

I should not have to top up a new boiler this much and i am not happy now the boiler is 12 months warranty,could it be the new boiler?could it be something the plumber did?Or is it a leak and if so where as i can find anything.
I purchased the boiler from mr centralheating and the plumber had nothing to do with it apart from installing it,would i have to pay him again to see what the problem is or should i be covered by the cost i paid him first time round as its still not right.
There may have been a leak when i had my old boiler in some of my pipes under floor baords but i cant tell and its too big of a job to rip up every board in house to check as heating all over house.

I asked if there was stuff as i heard you can put stuff into system that seals the pipes from leaks but he told me that its not good to use this with the new boiler it does not do the boiler any favours.

I am puzzled as to what to do,im not sure if its a problem with my boiler the plumbers work or somewhere in my house where i have checked every radiator.

Please give some advise.

jayne26

hubby says have you tried charging up boiler then turning the charge up tap off and disconecting the filling loop " looks like silver flexible pipe" there may not be enough mains preshire to charge up boiler , to test preshire put thumb over outlet of cold tap in kitchen and turn on tap . if water sprays at you preshire is ok , try this

bwatt00

Dont have a clue what you mean?

ariba10

The leak might be any where in the system. It could be from any radiator or pipe run in the system.
If you can not see any leaks it could be from a pipe run that is out of sight.

I would not think it is from the new boiler seeing that you had the same problem with the old one.

bwatt00

Then how could i find the leak?i would need to rip the house apart to find it,there must be a way that i can find a leak without doing that,im not ripping all my floor boards and whatever to try and find a leak.

raymond

Apart from ripping up the floorboards, there isnt really a way to find such a small leak. But before you do that, bleed all your radiators just in case you have air in the system. Call Fernox (get details from their web site) and ask if their sealant is suitable for your system.

penrhyn

Do as Raymond says, if the system has been refilled there will be a lot of disolved air in the system that will come out. Its just possible that this is the case here.
Don't forget to repressurise the system after bleeding the rads.
O yes bleed them with the pump off, and repressurise to the approprate level (1bar?) when the system is cold.

bwatt00

I may have located the problem found a leak under the floor boards,under my washing machine where my boiler is located and some pipes the only place i could check apart from all my radiators.
And as my flat has a shop downstairs which the owner used to own both and disconnected the pipework for shop there is this vavle there and i had two old timers with my old boiler and when the plumber put in my new boiler he could not at first get the radiators to heat up when the boiler and filled and working and he asked about this timers and why there was two.
I told him the reason and he said there must be a value somewhere that he needed to close or open cant remember what he wanted to do open or close i think close its probably an old vale big white plastic thing and the fitting is brass and which looks like and alan key type thing to open and close it,but the leak is coming from around this alan key type thing on the value,dont know if needs a new value or if it can come off and maybe some sealent can go on or what,i would be annoyed if i got that same plumber back and it was easy fixed and costly for me,he did open or close it when he was hear so would i still be covered in my price i paid for him to install or would this be an extra job.
I watched it for a few mins and i get a drip every min and i noticed it was wet under where it was leaking so my problem is there,kind of glad in a way as it better than having to maybe use leak sealant or rip my boards up around the house to check and that would be hard.