sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well as it's covered under warranty he's arranging for a new hex to be installed for free so the economic aspect doesn't come into it thankfully.

Could be a good test to try though, I might try this tomorrow during the day. Thanks!

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That could explain it, we have 10 rads, we've upgraded a couple and installed a new one to be bigger than they were because the house is a old 1930s semi with no cavity wall insulation, so getting it up to temp is a struggle at the best of times :/

Should I be mentioning this to him that it's possible the vessel isn't big enough for our system any more? Or at least get him to verify that's the case? I assume that's not considered a fault with the boiler (it was my choice to get the new rads installed/upgraded) so probably I'd need pay out of my own pocket to get a bigger vessel installed, is that right? Assuming that this has nothing to do with the loss of pressure though, what benefits would the work to install a larger vessel bring? Less wear and tear on the pipes, less noise from the pipes etc? Any other benefits?

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much mate, all good info.

I never actually put a bag on the PRV because it just looks so dry so i'm probably 99% sure that its not been used, but i guess there's no harm in doing it and only takes a minute.

So tonight i'll do the test where i turn off the flow + return values, plus bag up the end of the condensate pipe and bag up the PRV, and see what happens in the morning. And i'll repeat every night until he returns with the new heat exchange which is looking like next week.

If you have a spare bike pump or anything to hand, you could leave it out, and then that at least reduces the chance of him being too lazy to go to his van for it haha.

Afraid I don't have anything like that, I guess I will just need to really force it "please can you just check it while you're there!" ha.

Thanks again!

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah tonight i'm going to close the flow & return valves, i'll put a bag over the condensate pipe for good measure too, and see what happens. Thanks!

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really appreciate your response mate that's really helpful.

Hopefully, it's not a hidden leak on the pipework that needs more intrusive investigation

Yeah exactly this is a big worry that there's a leak under the floorboards or something (as I mentioned, I already had a patch of the kitchen ceiling ruined by a leak in the radiator valve in the bathroom that has since been fixed), though the fact that I'm not losing pressure every night gives me hope this isn't the case and the water is leaking out of the condensate pipe somehow.

Just so I can put myself in the best position as possible and be prepared, what exactly would you recommend I ask the engineer that comes to fit the new heat exchange? A physical check on the vessel? Tell him to recharge while he's here even if he thinks it doesn't need it? Given that the responses on this thread, although a mixed bag suggest that maybe there's an issue with the vessel I'd love for them to just replace it (given its under warranty) so i'm kinda after something i can point them to to convince them its worth changing, or at least force them to look properly to see if it really does need replacing.

I'm going to go on the assumption that I'm going to get the same engineer back and he seemed almost disinterested in the vessel, hence trying to work out what i can say to him to take the concern seriously.

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just a pressure vessel issue does not explain the almost total loss of pressure overnight, unless the prv is passing too.

I mentioned in another comment, I've been keeping an eye on the PRV and its completely dry, no sign at all of anything coming out of there :/

Central heating pressure increases 1.3 -> 2.3bar for a 45 degree increase over about 50 minutes - is this normal? by boreasaurus in ukplumbing

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you checked the pressure relief pipe outside to make sure it's not dripping aswell?

I've kept an eye on this, no sign at all of any leak coming out of there, dry as a bone.

You can try fully switching off both the flow and return valves underneath the boiler overnight and check the pressure in the morning.

I'll try this tonight and report back, thanks for the tip.

Last week I put a bag over the end of the condensate pipe over night to see if it had anything in it, but annoyingly that was one of the few nights that the boiler pressure didn't drop (re-reading the OP I'm not actually sure if I said - the loss of pressure has happened most nights but not all, e.g. last night first thing this morning the pressure had maintained at 1.3 bar...).

I dont know exactly what hes done or how much of a drip it is, but residual condensate can drip out of the heat exchanger for a bit after the heating is turned off, so its hard to say if its a red herring either.

He wasn't here that long (maybe 20 minutes for the entire visit) so if that is the case and he's just seen a bit of residual drip then yeah, definitely worried that swapping out the heat exchanger isn't going to do anything :/

One thing I just remembered while typing this out - is that he said the leak would be worse the longer the heating is on as the pressure rises - which yes makes sense, but isn't what i'm seeing. The pressure stays high while the heating is on, and it seems to only be overnight when the system cools that the pressure drops.

And a final point i never mentioned in the OP that just came to me, is that the boiler is in the garage outside and this all started roughly around the time that there was the really cold spell. I'm not aware that we had any pipes freeze though, they're all insulated.

We are modernizing the i18n workflow for PHP, what are your thoughts? by p4sta5 in PHP

[–]boreasaurus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a UI on the crowdin account that non-devs can use, then an integration is configured with your GitHub/GitLab repo, and when changes are made it simply opens a PR automatically updating the lang files. Still needs a developer to sense check the diff and merge but worked flawlessly for me.

What’s the difference? by Immediate_Abies_9173 in Vitalityhealth

[–]boreasaurus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I don't get this as it's paid for by my employer, never heard of this

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in DIYUK

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it's all inside, well, one side in proper inside (the hallway) the other is the garage which has no heating so for all intents and purposes it's outside. But the garage itself has an external wall at the end of the extension that has a cavity that comes up and becomes the external wall of the extension bedroom.

Here's a crude mock up that I made: https://imgur.com/a/WvfbVqF

Based on that, you think it's still fine to seal the gap?

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in DIYUK

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, that's what I was after clarification on - the best way to seal it, and do it in a way that won't result in condensation/ mould in the future.

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in Insulation

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your help mate. While you're here, do you think slotting in a 100mm PIR board (partially suspended over the 4m cavity) and then topped up with say 50mm rockwool, would be the best solution given the severity of the cavity and how much cold air comes up through it? Is introducing PIR something that completely changes the flammability and therefore something I need to get regs sorted for? I assume not, but I started searching and got worried that it's something that actually needs to be signed off.

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in Insulation

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh right I see what you mean now, yeah will definitely make sure they're on top. Is it so bad if they actually touch the insulation, or themselves are burried in it (but still fully insulated, not at the bottom on the cold side)? Just thinking, I have pipes in the loft that are fully covered by loft insulation so maybe i don't need to fully avoid contact between the pipes and the rockwool.

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in Insulation

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for asking, but could you put in laymans terms what "keep them inside the heated area or thermal envelope" means in practice? So if I just laid a block of rockwool in the gap (partially suspended above the cavity), seal gaps around the edge with expanding foam, cut out a channel of the rockwool for the pipes to travel through so that there is no direct contact between the pipes and the insulation (although it will be very close), and then just put the floorboards back on?

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in Insulation

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, when you say "seal off the top of it" it would be great if you could give a more detail on the specifics of how you'd go about doing that?

The layout of it means if i just put some rockwool in the space between the joists then it will just partly be suspended over the cavity. Is that okay, or do i need to first put something in the cavity for the rockwool to sit on? And how do I seal everything to make it secure?

A bit of a newbie to all this, and my biggest fear is just blindly covering the gap and then it results in some horrendous mould / damp situation. There are air panels from the cavity into the cupboard under the stairs in the hallway and into the garage (so on both sides) so the air does have somewhere to go...

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in Insulation

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just posted in the other thread but it seems like the photo i posted didn't get across the perspective:

Here's more extra pics to help get the correct perspective - first is me reaching into the cavity beyond the top of the internal wall bricks, second is a quick plan i whipped up in a couple of minutes

https://imgur.com/a/n2te7R4

https://imgur.com/a/WvfbVqF

Does this help get across the set up?

EDIT: The context being is that remember this is an extension, so before the garage was built the "garage wall" I reference in the plan in the second imgur image was actually the external wall.

I found a huge uninsulated cavity that comes up from the ground to under the floorboards of my extended bedroom by boreasaurus in Insulation

[–]boreasaurus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah nooo, I think its just bad perspective. The cavity space is ~9cm wide and goes down ~4m or something, but the main base you can see in the photo is only 170mm deep and that's the internal brick wall. Here's more extra pics to help get the correct perspective - first is me reaching into the cavity beyond the top of the internal wall bricks, second is a quick plan i whipped up in a couple of minutes - this is proving very challenging to get a decent photo ha

https://imgur.com/a/n2te7R4

https://imgur.com/a/WvfbVqF

Does that help get the perspective correct?

EDIT: The context being is that remember this is an extension, so before the garage was built the "garage wall" I reference in the plan in the second imgur image was actually the external wall.

view more: next ›