Boiler Water Pressure Drop

AWomanNeedHelpPlease

Hello all,
My under two year old Vaillant combi boiler water pressure drop in Mar, because it still under two year warranty, so I called Vaillant and they done the service as well as sorted the problem (code1 M1 system Leak - which I have no idea what it meant). Now is July, the same problem appear again.
I learnt I can top it up myself, which I did but water pressure drop again in a week time. I do some research on internet. It seems that somewhere either the boiler or the pipe within the system is having a leak. I check all my radiators which appear no clusty, only some green spots appears on the copper pipes right beneath the boiler. I also tied dry tissues around the pipes to see if there any water mark left. No, there isn't.
I suspect there is something wrong with the new boiler. If there is a leakage of the pipe outside the boiler, the water pressure should have drop months ago. Am I wrong?
I would like someone could kindly give me advice on:
Am I supposed to call Vaillant first to ask them to look again?
I also have insurance policy with Corgi Homeplan which cover the Central Heating System, but when I check the what is not insured, it printed any repair arising from circumstances before you asked us to provide cover. Since I have the water pressure problem before, does it count?

It could be not related but I just notice one side of the double socket next to the boiler switch isn't working. Last night (probably because of the hot weather) I didn't sleep well and notice the boiler is making a sound as if it try to ignite itself. Is it normal?

Thanks for taking time to read my message and please give me advice if you don't mind to spare a few minutes to help.

The_Fat_Controller

Yes, you have a water leak on the central heating side of the system.

Whether it's in the boiler or the pipework/radiators will need investigation.

Is the boiler showing any error codes or other strange behaviour ?

AWomanNeedHelpPlease

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

Yes, you have a water leak on the central heating side of the system.

Whether it's in the boiler or the pipework/radiators will need investigation.

Is the boiler showing any error codes or other strange behaviour ?

I am a new flat owner so as far as I learn from the internet, I can't find other problem. Last night, the setting light flash again so I top up the water pressure and press reset. While I was in bed, I heard a single loud 'click' sound (not kettling), as if the boiler is trying to turn on something. Back in Mar, it had a code F22 flash up which indicate a water pressure problem so I called Vaillant the manufacturer .

I just double check my homeplan insurance and notice they only cover £300 repair cost for the first three months for central heating.

Should I try to bleed the radiators to check for leakage? But how to turn on the heater when it is summer? (at the moment, the heating is set to summer mode)

What I afraid is Vaillant might blame the system instead of the boiler while the insurance company might blame the boiler not the system. Therefore I am trying to gather more information so when the engineer arrive, I might understand more what going on.

I am wondering in what circumstance a plumber I should contact? I read from other thread that someone call a plumber for boiler leakage.

PS. I check the water pressure (last night - 23:30, I top it up from 0.3 to 1) and it remain at 1 at 9:01am

brewerdave

With a combi boiler it could be an internal leak in one of the heat recovery systems.

My daughter had a similar problem of pressure loss some years ago. After many visits and a full boiler strip down it was found that water was leaking from a pin hole leak in a coil and draining away via the condensate system!

AWomanNeedHelpPlease

My daughter had a similar problem of pressure loss some years ago. After many visits and a full boiler strip down it was found that water was leaking from a pin hole leak in a coil and draining away via the condensate system![/QUOTE]

I just contact Vaillant and they said they could send an engineer to have a look but if no flauty found in boiler, they are going to charge me £90.

From your daughter's experience, it seem to be very difficult for the engineer to find out what went wrong when the problem is mini. But if I leave it like this, just top up the pressure until the F22 flash up again, will I get myself into huge trouble?

When the engineer came, do you have any clues that I could remind him to check if he said he couldn't find anything wrong?

brewerdave

AWomanNeedHelpPlease wrote: »

From your daughter's experience, it seem to be very difficult for the engineer to find out what went wrong when the problem is mini. But if I leave it like this, just top up the pressure until the F22 flash up again, will I get myself into huge trouble?

When the engineer came, do you have any clues that I could remind him to check if he said he couldn't find anything wrong?

It wasn't easy ! Initially they all fobbed my daughter off.
I then got involved!As the house was a new build (less than 18 months old) I had to get the plumber, who had installed the system for the site builder,involved - he checked for leaks VERY thoroughly whilst I was in the house, then we both phoned the boiler manufacturer and insisted that the problem HAD to be in the boiler.

They guy who turned up ,still didn't believe it was their fault - but to be fair ,he spent several hours stripping down until he found an internal coil had a pinhole leak. It was the final heat recovery stage ,so the leak was draining to condense -out of sight ,out of mind!
Afterwards he said that he had never had a fault like it -but who knows?
Don't think you can do any damage as I suspect your F22 fault ,prevents the boiler firing but if there are definitely no visible leaks you really need the boiler manufacturer to check.
You have checked for any wet patches on carpets,skirting boards etc??

AWomanNeedHelpPlease

brewerdave wrote: »

It wasn't easy ! Initially they all fobbed my daughter off.
I then got involved!As the house was a new build (less than 18 months old) I had to get the plumber, who had installed the system for the site builder,involved - he checked for leaks VERY thoroughly whilst I was in the house, then we both phoned the boiler manufacturer and insisted that the problem HAD to be in the boiler.

They guy who turned up ,still didn't believe it was their fault - but to be fair ,he spent several hours stripping down until he found an internal coil had a pinhole leak. It was the final heat recovery stage ,so the leak was draining to condense -out of sight ,out of mind!
Afterwards he said that he had never had a fault like it -but who knows?
Don't think you can do any damage as I suspect your F22 fault ,prevents the boiler firing but if there are definitely no visible leaks you really need the boiler manufacturer to check.
You have checked for any wet patches on carpets,skirting boards etc??

Thank-you so much for your advice. It have a feeling I am heading to not happy bad heating situation. I think I will follow what you did. Contact my installer to come to check is there any leak first.

To whom who have read my post and might interested, I just find out that even I paid for my homeplan insurance, they DO NOT cover non-emergency, well fair enough but I was mislead on their website. Because Vaillant, corgi Homeplan both are going to charge me, I would rather call my local plumber.

AWomanNeedHelpPlease

Quick update
Yesterday, a local plumber came to look into my boiler and find no sign of leak in the boiler. A sealant to get in the system is a solution.
I would like to ask:
1. Is is usual for a plumber not check any radiators show any leakage? Or is it because is summer no need to do so?
2. I was told a call out charge apply as in hourly rate. The plumber spend less than an hour and told me he has no sealant in his van so he has to come back next day. I wonder how long does it take him to prepare and pour the sealant in? My flat is less than 300 square feet and only has five radiators.
3. I asked does he need to check the pipe work around, he said to check pipe work, he will need to make a hole from downstair flat ceiling to look. This is the first time I ever heard that. Instead of pulling out my flat floorboard, make a hole of other people ceiling? That's doesn't sound right at all.
4. He look walk from the boiler and to a near by radiator and said not sure where to put the sealant in.... isn't it the most call out leakage problem is central heating leak?

I wonder could someone help me about the central heating leak sealant procedure so I know what I could understand what the plumber going to do it correctly.

southcoastrgi

Phone Corgi & tell them your boiler pressure keeps dropping.
DO NOT TELL THEM YOU HAVE HAD VAILLANT OR THE OTHER PLUMBER LOOK AT IT,
As long as you have had your policy for more than 30 days you are covered it's not just for emergencies

plug25

Did you get this done and was it successful?