Re-Gased boiler twice in six months

Daisy_84

Back in Sept 2023 I had a boiler service done by a company that was contracted by D&G. I had never had any problems before with my boiler but when they serviced it, they said they picked up a gas leak. They decided to condemn my boiler and 'fix' it. 

Fast forward, I have had two F1 errors since Sept 2023. I've had to Re-gas my boiler on two occasions. One in November and I've had to re-gas it again this evening. In the past, I would only have to Re-gas my boiler once a year. 

It seems too much of a coincidence for these F1 errors to be suddenly happening, following the intervention from the service that was done. 

How can I go about getting this looked into?

Ayr_Rage

What is the boiler and what does F1 indicate?

What do you mean by re-gas?

If you mean refill the boiler to the correct pressure then that is adding water not gas and if that is needing to be done regularly whilst there is no air coming out when you bleed the radiators then you have a leak somewhere.

Daisy_84

Ayr_Rage said:

What is the boiler and what does F1 indicate?

What do you mean by re-gas?

If you mean refill the boiler to the correct pressure then that is adding water not gas and if that is needing to be done regularly whilst there is no air coming out when you bleed the radiators then you have a leak somewhere.

Thanks. So would that be a water leak?

Yes I meant adding pressure.

Ayr_Rage

@Daisy_84 if the system is losing pressure then water is escaping from somewhere.

Look for dripping joints on radiators and also check if the emergency pressure relief pipe is dripping any water, that normally vents to outside and if so the pressure relief valve is leaking.

What is the boiler make and model and what pressure are you filling it to when cold?

3piece-wheel

If it was performing well why mess about with it, servicing boilers seems to cause more problems than they solve. If it aint broke don't fix it. 

FreeBear

3piece-wheel said:

If it was performing well why mess about with it, servicing boilers seems to cause more problems than they solve. If it aint broke don't fix it. 

For some of us, an annual service is required by the manufacturer in order to maintain the warranty. For others, it is often done in conjunction with issuing a Gas Safe certificate (a legal requirement in rented properties).

ThisIsWeird

There is nothing here to necessarily suggest - other than coincidence - that the service and the subsequent pressure losses are connected in any way. They could be, of course, but we don't know.

Daisy, we need more info:

1) Make and model and type (eg 'combi') of boiler. Age?

2) What 'bar' do you pressurise your system to - 1-ish?

3) What then happens to this pressure as you fire up your boiler. Does it increase? If so, what to?

4) Does the pressure drop occur steadily over days - it's at 0.9 bar one day, 0.8 the next, etc? (Should be checked with boiler cold).

That will hopefully get us started

Why did you have it serviced? How often do you have it serviced? Why did D&G sort this - do you have a service/maintenance contract with them?

Eldi_Dos

3piece-wheel said:

If it was performing well why mess about with it, servicing boilers seems to cause more problems than they solve. If it aint broke don't fix it. 

CO causes 40 deaths per year and over 200 hospital admissions, never mind the tragic explosion's that we all to often read about.

Daisy_84

ThisIsWeird said:

There is nothing here to necessarily suggest - other than coincidence - that the service and the subsequent pressure losses are connected in any way. They could be, of course, but we don't know.

Daisy, we need more info:

1) Make and model and type (eg 'combi') of boiler. Age?

2) What 'bar' do you pressurise your system to - 1-ish?

3) What then happens to this pressure as you fire up your boiler. Does it increase? If so, what to?

4) Does the pressure drop occur steadily over days - it's at 0.9 bar one day, 0.8 the next, etc? (Should be checked with boiler cold).

That will hopefully get us started

Why did you have it serviced? How often do you have it serviced? Why did D&G sort this - do you have a service/maintenance contract with them?

Thanks for the helpful questions. Just back to looking at this issue now. Things have been a bit insane and I’m still hoping to get to the bottom of it. 

1. It’s a Logic Combi. ESPI 35

2. I pressurised it to 1.5 on 20th January when I posted this.

3. 1.5 when fired up.

4. It’s on about .90 when cold.

I have it serviced annually. I usually use a local gas company but I stupidly decided to get a plan with D&G last year incase and part of it comes with a service. When they did the service last year they took it apart and started fixing things, even though I’d not had any issues before. It was an upsetting experience.

Veteransaver

Repressurising it only every 2 months or so suggests you have a very small leak somewhere, or maybe you've bled a radiator at some point in between?
It might not even be a noticeable leak, if it's on a valve either side of the radiator it could evaporate away quickly. Could be a tiny leak from a thermostatic valve needle.
Worth checking the valves at each radiator and also make sure the bleed screws on the rads are tight (but don't do them too tight)

Daisy_84

Veteransaver said:

Repressurising it only every 2 months or so suggests you have a very small leak somewhere, or maybe you've bled a radiator at some point in between?
It might not even be a noticeable leak, if it's on a valve either side of the radiator it could evaporate away quickly. Could be a tiny leak from a thermostatic valve needle.
Worth checking the valves at each radiator and also make sure the bleed screws on the rads are tight (but don't do them too tight)

Thanks. I guess I need to figure out how to check the radiators. I’ve never bled them.