Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. We had a new boiler fitted a couple of
months ago (an ariston combi boiler). ON the front of the boiler there is a
pressure gauge and we have noticed that the pressure is down lower than the
manual says it should be. The manual says between 1 and 1.5 bars and ours is
showing about 0.5. This stays the same when hot water is used but rises when
the central heating is turned on to about 1.5. However, despite this it's
working perfectly ok and gives us hot water and heats the radiators.
The plumber who fitted it seemed to do a good job when he did the boiler so
we had him fit a new bathroom after and we werent happy with his work. He
promised to come back and sort out the bits we werent happy with (we hadnt
paid him the full amount) but he has never turned up to do this. As we
hadn't paid him everything we were quite happy to leave it like this as we
can finish off the other bits ourselves, but because of this its put us in
an awkward position with the boiler.\We don't want to have to ring him
unless we really have to so if anyone here can give us any pointers we'd be
really grateful!
Is this lack of pressure anything to worry about and is there anything
simple we can do to rectify it? We've bled all the radiators and the actual
water pressure through the taps is very high if thats any help.
Mel.

Mel wrote:
Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. We had a new boiler fitted a couple
of months ago (an ariston combi boiler). ON the front of the boiler
there is a pressure gauge and we have noticed that the pressure is
down lower than the manual says it should be. The manual says between
1 and 1.5 bars and ours is showing about 0.5. This stays the same
when hot water is used but rises when the central heating is turned
on to about 1.5. However, despite this it's working perfectly ok and
gives us hot water and heats the radiators.
The plumber who fitted it seemed to do a good job when he did the
boiler so we had him fit a new bathroom after and we werent happy
with his work. He promised to come back and sort out the bits we
werent happy with (we hadnt paid him the full amount) but he has
never turned up to do this. As we hadn't paid him everything we were
quite happy to leave it like this as we can finish off the other bits
ourselves, but because of this its put us in an awkward position with
the boiler.\We don't want to have to ring him unless we really have
to so if anyone here can give us any pointers we'd be really grateful!
Is this lack of pressure anything to worry about and is there anything
simple we can do to rectify it? We've bled all the radiators and the
actual water pressure through the taps is very high if thats any help.
Mel.

open the bypass valve somewhere on the piping below the boiler,its a black
knob? turn the valve to the open position for 10mins and then close it
again.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

"Mel" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. We had a new boiler fitted a couple of
months ago (an ariston combi boiler). ON the front of the boiler there is
a pressure gauge and we have noticed that the pressure is down lower than
the manual says it should be. The manual says between 1 and 1.5 bars and
ours is showing about 0.5. This stays the same when hot water is used but
rises when the central heating is turned on to about 1.5. However, despite
this it's working perfectly ok and gives us hot water and heats the
radiators.
The plumber who fitted it seemed to do a good job when he did the boiler
so we had him fit a new bathroom after and we werent happy with his work.
He promised to come back and sort out the bits we werent happy with (we
hadnt paid him the full amount) but he has never turned up to do this. As
we hadn't paid him everything we were quite happy to leave it like this as
we can finish off the other bits ourselves, but because of this its put us
in an awkward position with the boiler.\We don't want to have to ring him
unless we really have to so if anyone here can give us any pointers we'd
be really grateful!
Is this lack of pressure anything to worry about and is there anything
simple we can do to rectify it? We've bled all the radiators and the
actual water pressure through the taps is very high if thats any help.
Mel.

Had the pressure been dropping anyway?
If not and you have bled the radiators as you say this will reduce the
pressure in the system.

The pressure should rise as the heating runs as water expands when heated

You could use the removable flexible pipe that fits between the incoming
cold main and the heating circuit on the boiler to pump up the system to 1
bar and then monitor the pressure. (Your manual should explain this)
If it drops again you may have a leak

(However as it is a new system there may have been some air left in it which
has gradually been purged. This would also reduce the pressure)

Tony

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:



open the bypass valve somewhere on the piping below the boiler,its a black
knob? turn the valve to the open position for 10mins and then close it
again.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Some boilers dont now use a 'filling loop' which is what you mean. They
have a built in filling system that usually requires a key that the
installer usually leaves. Get the Boiler Manual from the maker and it
will tell you how to top up the pressure.

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:10:12 +0000, Mel wrote:

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. We had a new boiler fitted a couple of
months ago (an ariston combi boiler). ON the front of the boiler there is a
pressure gauge and we have noticed that the pressure is down lower than the
manual says it should be. The manual says between 1 and 1.5 bars and ours is
showing about 0.5. This stays the same when hot water is used but rises when
the central heating is turned on to about 1.5. However, despite this it's
working perfectly ok and gives us hot water and heats the radiators.
The plumber who fitted it seemed to do a good job when he did the boiler so
we had him fit a new bathroom after and we werent happy with his work. He
promised to come back and sort out the bits we werent happy with (we hadnt
paid him the full amount) but he has never turned up to do this. As we
hadn't paid him everything we were quite happy to leave it like this as we
can finish off the other bits ourselves, but because of this its put us in
an awkward position with the boiler.\We don't want to have to ring him
unless we really have to so if anyone here can give us any pointers we'd be
really grateful!
Is this lack of pressure anything to worry about and is there anything
simple we can do to rectify it? We've bled all the radiators and the actual
water pressure through the taps is very high if thats any help.
Mel.

Please read the Sealed CH FAQ.
If you have more than about 10 radiators then it's possible that you
should have had an extra expansion vessel fitted.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:

simple we can do to rectify it? We've bled all the radiators and the
actual water pressure through the taps is very high if thats any help.
Mel.


open the bypass valve somewhere on the piping below the boiler,its a black
knob? turn the valve to the open position for 10mins and then close it
again.

I very strongly advise you *NOT* to do this for ten minutes!

If by "bypass valve" you are refering to the filling loop, then all you
will succeed in doing is overpressurising the system to the point where
the safety release valve is forced to operate, and you end up dumping
gallons of water (along with all your corrosian inhibitor) onto the path
outside! Once this happens there is always the danger that the valve
does not reseat correctly, and you are stuck with a dripping safety
pressure relase valve.

If the pressure is down to 0.5 bar then you will probably only need to
add a few litres to bring it back to 1 bar - given you have good water
pressure from the mains that will only take a few seconds, not ten minutes.

For a good description of the process, see the sealed system FAQ:

http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

Since the system was fitted recently it is not uncommon to loose a
little pressure from it in the first few weeks as all the disolved air
in the water is expelled. If however you find that it continues to
regularly loose pressure after that, you may have a very slow leak.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Thankyou for all your help. i've managed to raise the pressure as suggested
using the filling loop and it's now just below 1.5. We'll keep an eye on it
to check it stays there.
Mel.

"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:10:12 +0000, Mel wrote:

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. We had a new boiler fitted a couple of
months ago (an ariston combi boiler). ON the front of the boiler there is
a
pressure gauge and we have noticed that the pressure is down lower than
the
manual says it should be. The manual says between 1 and 1.5 bars and ours
is
showing about 0.5. This stays the same when hot water is used but rises
when
the central heating is turned on to about 1.5. However, despite this it's
working perfectly ok and gives us hot water and heats the radiators.
The plumber who fitted it seemed to do a good job when he did the boiler
so
we had him fit a new bathroom after and we werent happy with his work. He
promised to come back and sort out the bits we werent happy with (we
hadnt
paid him the full amount) but he has never turned up to do this. As we
hadn't paid him everything we were quite happy to leave it like this as
we
can finish off the other bits ourselves, but because of this its put us
in
an awkward position with the boiler.\We don't want to have to ring him
unless we really have to so if anyone here can give us any pointers we'd
be
really grateful!
Is this lack of pressure anything to worry about and is there anything
simple we can do to rectify it? We've bled all the radiators and the
actual
water pressure through the taps is very high if thats any help.
Mel.

Please read the Sealed CH FAQ.
If you have more than about 10 radiators then it's possible that you
should have had an extra expansion vessel fitted.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he
http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards