Radiator leaking, combi boiler pressure at 0 - what to do?

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TreeTiger

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Came home from work to find an upstairs bedroom radiator has obviously leaked into the floor underneath and there's a big damp patch on the ceiling of the dining room underneath. I've turned off the radiator.

Pressure on (gas) Greenstar condensing combi boiler is at zero. The temperature in the house is getting very low now!

Have left a message with plumber and in the meantime have turned the heating off.
But it's so cold and I'm wondering can I run the system, having turned the leaking radiator off?
 
TreeTiger said:
Came home from work to find an upstairs bedroom radiator has obviously leaked into the floor underneath and there's a big damp patch on the ceiling of the dining room underneath. I've turned off the radiator.

Pressure on (gas) Greenstar condensing combi boiler is at zero. The temperature in the house is getting very low now!

Have left a message with plumber and in the meantime have turned the heating off.
But it's so cold and I'm wondering can I run the system, having turned the leaking radiator off?
Click to expand...

No you will not be able to run heating as the boiler will need to be pressurized via the loop, and the boiler will / should not start anyway
 
Thanks johnjoda, just talked to the plumber who says the same thing. Why doesn't this kind of thing happen on a warm day?!
 
Is it leaking on before or after valve? If after valve, turn off both sides of rad and refill system. Your rad will continue to leak as there is plenty of water in it.
 
There should be a pipe feeding into the boiler with an in-line valve with a (blue?) tap on it. Turn the tap to line up with the pipe and watch the pressure gauge on the boiler climb to between 1 and 2 bar. Turn the tap back to the original right angle position with the pipe and start boiler.
 
ours did exactly the same thing over xmas and i tried that. Ours has a red wheel valve rather than an inline one. The wheel only turned 1/4 turn and nothing happened. It turns out that the plumber had tightened the locking nut on wheel valve which meant that it could only turn 1/4 turn. I had to unlock the nut, then turn it several rotations before water would flow (it takes several minutes to fill the system).
Took me ages to realise.

anon473
 
Ok, Mine is a vokera mynute 16e
As I mentioned, I cannot locate the filling loop valve.

the return and flow pipes go straight into the wall on 90 degree elbows immediately below the boiler.

I know im looking for a silver flexi pipe with a moveable valve on it, removed the screws on the dial interface and lowered it, could see all the pipework, the red overflow switch, etc, saw a silver flexi pipe that has no tap type valve on it at all.

we checked the hot press and the attic and cant find anything.

your advice is much appreciated.
 
You may have an automatic filling unit or God forbid a "semi-sealed" system.

An AFU is a biggish brass fitting with a pressure gauge (clock) attached to it.

A "semi-sealed" system is normally fed from your storage tank in attic via a 1/2 inch pipe. It would have a red handled gate valve and a non return valve. The gate valve may not be open. the NRV is quite bulky.

Any of these things sound familar?
 
the 1/2 inch pipe with red wheel on it sounds familiar, cant recall if theres an NRV on it though, will check it out this evening and will also post photos to this thread to see if it helps anyone! thanks all for the help in the meantime.
 
it may be a feed to an electric shower. if the valve is already open and there is no NRV, then it probably is.
 
dont have an electric shower!!

could it be possible that its open in the hotpress but closed up at the water tank in the attic?
 
In your hot press, you have the heating flow and return entering the cylinder at the side about 18" apart. is there a pipe tee'd of either of these that leads to the attic?
 
mathepac said:
There should be a pipe feeding into the boiler with an in-line valve with a (blue?) tap on it...
Click to expand...
OP, yeah the silver flexi-pipe. I have just discovered yet another type on the inlets to the toilet cisterns and wash-hand basins - a slotted brass screw in the middle of the brass fitting that connects the plastic and flexi-pipes.
 
mathepac said:
OP, yeah the silver flexi-pipe. I have just discovered yet another type on the inlets to the toilet cisterns and wash-hand basins - a slotted brass screw in the middle of the brass fitting that connects the plastic and flexi-pipes.
Click to expand...

On that note, OP the silver fexli hose you saw was in the boiler? this is connected with the pump and not what mathepac is referring to.
 
If you have no operating instructions for the boiler then the following MAY be of some use.

Try Googling on the make of boiler to see if there is a line drawing of the boiler showing the refilling system. My boiler is a Worcester Bosch combi which has a ventilated plate on the underside which is removable to allow access to the refill system. I have a white plastic cylindrical "key" which slots into an open cylinder (approx 3/4" bore). Alongside this is another cylinder with a black or brown plastic nut at the bottom. When the key is inserted and turned so that it won't fall out,turn the black plastic nut and you will hear the water going into the system and also see the pressure guage operating. DO NOT UNSCREW THE NUT TOTALLY!!!

When you reach the required pressure, turn the black plastic nut to reseal the filling point and then remove the white plastic key.


These suggestions are for the boiler I have,but I would have thought there would be something similar on most others.

Good Luck

BillK
 
Problem solved.

1/2 inch pipe in the hot press had a red wheel on it and under that was a Non Return Valve. We checked this and found it was locked and wasnt working properly. We got the valve cleaned and placed it back onto the pipe and "hey presto" were able to re pressurise the system!

Thanks so much to everyone who made suggestions!!!

Home now for a hot shower :D
 
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