Baby steps to mortgage freedom for beanielou.

teapot2

beanielou wrote: »

How often?
Mine is currently 2/3 times a week at the moment.
No idea what to try next.
I am a tad stressed with it all.

Thinking blue or lilac for fence.
We shall

Couple of times a week. Not sure what else to suggest either, sorry

Suffolk_lass

Hi Beanie,

I have just had a problem with my boiler and did some research before calling someone out. I found a really practical little clip on Youtube from plumberparts.co.uk - the chap speaks very fast but it is logical to follow if you are reasonably practical.

Your reply to Karma suggests the man did come out yesterday. I just want to check with you what he did. He should have:

1. Gone round and checked all the bleed valves and the Radiator valves, lifting up the head valves on each radiator to check for any loose nuts underneath, or traces of water. The video says if it is the pipes under floorboards you will start to see brown patches on ceilings underneath the leak. Before jumping to this difficult and disruptive conclusion your man should have checked the following -

2. Checked that the expansion vessel has not been compromised (there is a rubber diaphragm in this that keeps the air and water separate). Mine looks like this. The video suggests these last about 10 years (mine went after 8) - the diaphragm is a moving part and it is well known for the rubber perishing or splitting. On my boiler it is attached by metal flexi-hoses and hooked on to the front - it simply lifts off and he should have checked that this is OK in one of two ways - lifting it off to check how much water is in it, or checking the pressure valve to see if air or water came out of it (if he did this, he might have used a bicycle pump to put pressure back in).

3. The system could be blocked - he may know (if he is your regular man) if there is any inhibiter in the system - there should be - it stops the degradation of the radiators from the inside (with the consequential sludge clogging up the system). I have had experience of this at our Son's house and we had to get the system "flushed" and reset - it is a filthy job but it works. Definitely one for the professionals. DS has micropore (very thin) pipes so even more of an issue there.

4. The boiler might be set too high for the water pressure, which means basically it is out of balance. Your man should have checked this - my boiler man said do not turn the boiler up above 4/5ths. If it is too high the system will generate hydrogen that gravitates up to the air vent release valve and releases through that (so your system loses pressure). You could just check what your boiler is set to, especially if your water pressure has been a bit low recently - maybe turn it down just below 4/5ths to 3/5ths? On my boiler the switch is a dial that has a circular indicator that gets fatter, the more it is turned on, but it could be a dial switch (with 1-5 indicators), and there could be one each for heating and hot water.

Mine was the expansion vessel last year and the pump this year. My symptom this year was no heating. Last year they tested the expansion vessel as part of the annual service. The symptoms at DS's house was an explosion of black gunk over the kitchen work surface.

There is more in the video if you want me to send the link, I can.

A nice blue-grey colour for a fence if you like blue, for me please. Cuprinol garden shades Beaumont Blue. I hope you feel better, my dear. x

beanielou

Thank you Suffolk Lass for your very helpful post.
I know he checked the radiators & he said there was no problem with the boiler itself.
Other than that I have no clue what he actually did.

It was originaly serviced by the people that installed it.
They retired just as the 7 year guarentee ran out & it is now serviced by the people who manufactured it~~Alpha Therm on a service contract.

Thanks for the info on the colour :T :T

beanielou

I am still so tired I could cry.
I am hoping it is the tail end of the lurgy.
This is the problem when you struggle with being tired anyway.
When anything else comes along you are done.

I need to get some shopping but cant face it.
Not enough for a home delivery though.

teafor2

Sorry to hear you're still not feel 100%. Whatever it is really seems to have taken hold, and being 'doubly' tired must be horrid.

Do you have a local shop that you can use for bits in an emergency or do you have to make a special journey to one of the big supermarkets. x

beanielou

teafor2 wrote: »

Sorry to hear you're still not feel 100%. Whatever it is really seems to have taken hold, and being 'doubly' tired must be horrid.

Do you have a local shop that you can use for bits in an emergency or do you have to make a special journey to one of the big supermarkets. x

I have a couple of supermarkets in my villiage.
I just cant face trailling round either of them & they are expensive.
I will survive!:p xx

Suffolk_lass

beanielou wrote: »

Thank you Suffolk Lass for your very helpful post.
I know he checked the radiators & he said there was no problem with the boiler itself.
Other than that I have no clue what he actually did.

It was originaly serviced by the people that installed it.
They retired just as the 7 year guarentee ran out & it is now serviced by the people who manufactured it~~Alpha Therm on a service contract.

Thanks for the info on the colour :T :T

Let us hope that it is only that the cold and miserable weather means your boiler is working a bit harder. When the weather cheers up a bit, you could go to the outside of your boiler and there should be a pipe poking out of the wall near where the boiler is on the other side - look and see if there is much evidence of it dripping (ours goes green with algae all around it on the wall) and when you are next out with like minded locals, ask who they use to service their boiler (I had to change and took the recommendation of a neighbour). There are lots of people offering the service who are not that good and a recommendation is worth its' weight in gold. As long as it is not getting worse it should be fine, just depressurising it

beanielou

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Let us hope that it is only that the cold and miserable weather means your boiler is working a bit harder. When the weather cheers up a bit, you could go to the outside of your boiler and there should be a pipe poking out of the wall near where the boiler is on the other side - look and see if there is much evidence of it dripping (ours goes green with algae all around it on the wall) and when you are next out with like minded locals, ask who they use to service their boiler (I had to change and took the recommendation of a neighbour). There are lots of people offering the service who are not that good and a recommendation is worth its' weight in gold. As long as it is not getting worse it should be fine, just depressurising it

Thank you

I have looked at the crupinol colours and I like the beaumont blue & the dusky gem

Karmacat

Hope you manage to catch up on your sleep soon, beanie, everything else is more manageable if you've paid off your sleep debt, so to speak

beanielou

Karmacat wrote: »

Hope you manage to catch up on your sleep soon, beanie, everything else is more manageable if you've paid off your sleep debt, so to speak

Thanks Karmcat.
Doesent seem to matter how much I sleep I am always exhausted:(:(