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Andrew Gabriel

In article .com,
writes:
diy jane wrote:
After returning from our holiday my children informed
me that one of the loft overflow pipes had been dripping whilst we
were away. I decided to have a look around tonight when I put the
cases away i was suprised to find the water
in the expansion tank was hot! i have been told it might be a leaking
coil in the cylinder tank. i have bailed it out a few time and the
water looks a bit brown near the bottom of the tank .
im a bit short of money at the moment has anyone any ideas what it
could be .what would happen if i left it dripping
thanks jane
I'm not clear which tank this is, hw feed or CH header. In either case
tho, if the overflow's dripping, either the fill ballcock is dripping
or its set to too high a level.

or the coil in the hot water cylinder is holed as suggested by
the OP, so the circuit is filling up from the cold water storage
tank, which should be a higher level (so water doesn't leak in
the opposite direction).

A hot dripping header will cause:
- wasted energy cost
- increased damp in the loft

- flushing inhibitor out of the heating circuit, resulting in
premature internal rusting and leaking of radiators.

- risk of a plastic header tank collapse dumping its hot contents onto
someone.
The latter has been known to kill but it is a rarity.
You probably could sort this with either no money or £1 max. Probably.
NT

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Andrew Gabriel