You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I think I have accidentally introduced air into my hot water system, if this is the case I need advice on how to push it out again.
I removed a rad when decorating, prior to this I emptied the system. While the rad was still off the wall and the system empty I switched on hot water hoping that it would heat up water and store it in the cylinder as per usual. Instead, water came gushing out of the pipes where the rad had been removed.
I have since put back the rad, refilled/ re-pressurised the system, bled it and all rads now work as expected but the hot water heating system doesn't work as it did before my DIY error.
When I press the switch for hot water the boiler switches itself off within 5 mins. I am able to press the reset switch on the boiler once it has cooled down but the same thing happens when I try switching on hot water again. I assume this is a safety device?
I have found a bleed valve on a pipe coming out of the cylinder that released a tiny amount of air but am still getting the same problem.
All hot water taps in the house release water in the same level of flow as before my DIY error but its cold
Please could you advise on other ways to push out air locks before I call a plumber?
Thanks in advance
Dave
Download the manual for you boiler (I am assuming combi) it should have details of how to bleed. Have s look st this then decide if your skill is up to the task
is the bolier modern enough to show an error code? do you need to repressurise the system? Is the water pressure okay?
The boiler is over-heating when you turn it on as there is no water inside the pump or boiler. Manually open the valve that chooses heating/HW/both, and you should get some flow round the system then. You'll need to re-pressurise it, and bleed every radiator, and possibly the pump too - take off the large screw in the centre of the body.
Its a Potterton Profile 60e - at least 15-20 years old?, It's not modern enough for an error code. Although I'm no plumber, I don't think its a combi boiler. The heating system is pressurised but I don't get instant hot water. I need to switch for hot water on a daily basis which is heated up by the boiler and stored in a cylinder upstairs.
The heating system is pressurised back up to 1 bar as it was prior to my DIY incident.
The water pressure is fine, assuming you mean how fast it comes out of all taps? This is the same as before my DIY incident.
Please keep the questions coming if it helps. Thanks for the responses so far
Kind Regards,
Alanl - Thanks for your response, the boiler only overheats and switches off when I switch on hot water. Annoyingly, the boiler has never been able to do hot water and rads at the same but does one or the other. The heating system (rads) seems to work fine, wouldn't this mean water is in boiler and pump?. Happy to attempt what you have suggested if you still think it necessary?
Kind Regards,
Sounds like air trapped in the primary pipework to the cylinder.
Have you bled every radiator and the cable on the cylinder primary pipework? And refilled to 1 bar.
If you’ve done all of that, turn the boiler thermostat down low, select hot water only, wait for boiler to fire and you should hear water movement, turn off boiler and wait for pump to stop, release air from cylinder primary pipework, repeat process until you get circulation around the cylinder primary pipework. After a while you should be able to leave boiler running for a bit longer and you will hear air being moved around, you can still vent with pump running possibly too.
Are you in a new build house 3 storey by any chance?
Bear - Thanks for your response. The only place I can find to bleed the 'cylinder primary pipework' is coming directly from the cylinder itself, should there be another one elsewhere?
I live in a two story 4 bed detached*
I'll give the above a go and feedback what happens. Many thanks.
No that is probably the bleed on the cylinder primaries. Use that. Primary water is water contained within the heating system, boiler, radiators, coil of hot water cylinder and pipework. It doesn’t mix with the secondary water which is th hot water that comes out of your hot taps.
Bear - just tried what you suggested, boiler seemed to stay on a little longer when I turned it right down. I have then attempted to bleed cylinder primary pipework as mentioned above. No air was released, just some warm water.
Any other suggestions?
Many thanks in advance.
Is this an unvented(pressurised) system then? System boiler and pressurised tank? Whilst it should be perfectly DIYable to bleed the system, it’s worth noting it’s strongly recommended these systems are annually inspected and serviced as when they fail the consequences are much more catastrophic than regular heating systems. Not Tryna scare, but it might be worth booking your service and the engineer can bleed the system too. Service should be around £100.
edit: check your plumber is G3 certified to work on this system.
djen - you just need to keep repeating until boiler will not overheat when on the right setting.
Also worth checking to across the coil to see if you've got any circulation from the boiler, ie does the flow warm up not too quickly as that would indicate no circulation, then the return should start warming up depending how hot the secondary water is.