Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 Thanks Nick. I was looking for that braided pipe before and couldn't see it anywhere. There's only one tank in the attic - I assume that the boiler would have it's own tank if it was gravity fed? What's worse is we're dealing with two plumbers here. the first installed the system and told me to repressurize it using the automatic filling valve. the second emptied the system so that I could remove a rad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Are you on mains water or a well and pump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 1 minute ago, dpmiller said: Are you on mains water or a well and pump? it's mains Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) 45 minutes ago, Bemak said: the first installed the system and told me to repressurize it using the automatic filling valve. Right. Well, as above, he is a gigantic penis. It states in black and white NOT to do that. 45 minutes ago, Bemak said: the second emptied the system so that I could remove a rad. Get him to come back in person and recommission the system. The single tank ( in the attic ) could mean that your hot water tank is a bloody old ‘primatic’ cylinder which fills the heating system via a one way diaphragm inside the cylinder. We cannot rule that out. What is the highest pressure you’ve seen on the gauge? Edited April 20, 2022 by Nickfromwales Big thumbs, poor eyesight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Ring GP and ask him whether you’re sealed and pressurised or not. I assume if he told you to fill / top up then it is sealed and pressurised by conversion. Tell him he’s instructed you to invalidate the warranty and you want him to come back and fit the correct 3rd party filling loop or you’ll get someone else to do it and send him the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 18 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: Right. Well, as above, he is a gigantic penis. It states in black and white NOT to do that. Get him to come back in person and recommission the system. The single tank ( in the attic ) could mean that your hot water tank is a bloody old ‘primatic’ cylinder which fills the heating system via a one way diaphragm inside the cylinder. We cannot rule that out. What is the highest pressure you’ve seen on the gauge? When I closed the valve to the hot water tank, the pressure increased to 0.7 bars - which is where I stopped filling. Heating seemed to work fine then - bar a bit of air. But no hot water. As soon as I opened the HW valve the pressure dropped out of the system. There wasn't even enough pressure in the system to bleed the rads. 14 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: Ring GP and ask him whether you’re sealed and pressurised or not. I assume if he told you to fill / top up then it is sealed and pressurised by conversion. Tell him he’s instructed you to invalidate the warranty and you want him to come back and fit the correct 3rd party filling loop or you’ll get someone else to do it and send him the bill. Thanks lads. I'm going to cut the first guy loose - I don't trust him after this. Second fella to be fair to him only took out the rad so will get him to have a look when he's back to add two rads to the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 24 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: Right. Well, as above, he is a gigantic penis. It states in black and white NOT to do that. Get him to come back in person and recommission the system. The single tank ( in the attic ) could mean that your hot water tank is a bloody old ‘primatic’ cylinder which fills the heating system via a one way diaphragm inside the cylinder. We cannot rule that out. What is the highest pressure you’ve seen on the gauge? our tank is ancient - it looks like a primatic cylinder (online search). I can have a better look this evening when I get home 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 got onto the plumber that installed the boiler. he said that the filler value "has never been an issue before. we did our training with Grant (boiler manufacturer) and they said it was fine" I rang Grant myself and they are very much against this approach as it can cause the boiler to leak down the line. They said that we should get the original plumber back and have him replace the valve with a filler loop. the automatic filler valve obviously means we have a leak somewhere. that needs to be fixed as well. not going to go back to the original plumber. just don't have any confidence in them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 goes without saying - thanks for all the help received. ye are a mighty bunch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) Just want to echo what others have said. Never seen a pressure regulator/reducer used as a filler. Usually a flex hose with valves each end as others have said. Even if that regulator was allowed I'm not sure why there would be any need to apply tools to it to fill the system as it should do that automatically. Edit: I'm wondering if its some sort of combined regulator and isolation valve? eg when the isolation valve is opened it introduces reduced pressure water into the system. When the isolation valve is shut no water can get in. eg its NOT an automatic filler. That might make some sense as it eliminates the possibility of over pressurising the system. Edited April 20, 2022 by Temp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 the plumber said it was an automatic filler - seems like his workaround to the leak that is in the system (that I only know about now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 oddly enough, I've seen this kind of setup before- using a PRV as a filler. My father's house is set up this way (but with a stopcock on the supply), and I've seen other examples too. Filler loops only really appeared here around the same time as gas combis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 6 hours ago, Bemak said: the plumber said it was an automatic filler - seems like his workaround to the leak that is in the system (that I only know about now). You can treat the system with a leak sealer if it 1000% is NOT a primatic system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 How much of the pipework to the DHW tank is accessible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 21, 2022 Author Share Posted April 21, 2022 13 hours ago, Nickfromwales said: You can treat the system with a leak sealer if it 1000% is NOT a primatic system. original plumber confirmed its not a primatic system. will look into this - thanks for the suggestion. One thing I've noticed in the past day is that there is a very slight continuous trickle in the first floor toilet. need to get to the route of that. i assume it would be a separate issue but needs fixing in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 21, 2022 Author Share Posted April 21, 2022 11 hours ago, Temp said: How much of the pipework to the DHW tank is accessible? there's an old lagging jacket on it but all are readily accessible. I was able to check all pipes for heat when I was trying to figure out if HW was circulating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted April 30, 2022 Author Share Posted April 30, 2022 Small update on this. Seems we have a leak in the system somewhere. Ground floors were up in the kitchen and it was bone dry underneath so we're satisfied that the leak isn't in the house. The volume of water being lost when we open the valve to serving the coil in the HWT would seem considerable to be able to drop the pressure so quickly hence why we think it would be very noticeable if the problem was internal. We've narrowed it down to two potential locations - one theory is the coil in the HWT could be burst and leaking into the system - however we're not getting anything out of overflow pipe and you would imagine that the tank would get slightly warm (which it's not) so our money is on the old pipes linking the external boiler to the house. They are old gun barrel pipes and the plumber reckons that there must be a leak there when the previous plumber was connecting up to them. So we have a but of digging ahead of us unfortunately. Fingers crossed it's one of these locations because we're out of ideas if it's not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted April 30, 2022 Share Posted April 30, 2022 Where do the pipes from the boiler fork to supply the heating and DHW? Presumably that's in the external boiler or the leak would affect both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 Did a bit of digging today. Found the leak quite quickly, the concrete was soft as I was breaking it so I was quite confident that the leak was in the ground. Such a relief to have found it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bemak Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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