Please help. I'm at my wits end. I have a Potterton Heatmax Combi (HE) boiler installed and it is now 3 years old. I have it serviced annually.
Since October last year, I have had the central heating on daily, averaging about 12 hours a day. In December, I got up one morning to find the boiler flashing the fault display 'E1 19' and, after consulting the User Guide I topped up the water pressure to one and a half bars. This was fine for 3 weeks after which the fault returned. After topping up again, everything was fine but only lasted for 1 week. To cut a long story short, this happened more frequently until I was needing to top up the water pressure every 4 days. At that point I called the heating engineer who services my boiler. He came and gave my boiler a thorough inspection and overhaul including the filling loop, expansion vessel, pressure relief valve, circulation, fan and water pressure switch. He then suggested that there was a leak in the system and proceeded to pour a bottle of 'leak sealer' into the boiler and asked me to monitor the water pressure for a week. He checked all the radiator valves which were dry
Alas, there was no difference - in fact things have worsened. I now have to re-pressurise the boiler every 2 hours. I've called the engineer out again and he said that the next step is to search for and identify any leaks in the pipe and radiator systems as it was losing a lot of water from somewhere. There are no visible signs of dampness in any internal walls and no evidence of any dampness coming up through the floor. I realize that there appears to be a lot of water leaking from somewhere in the system and the engineer is going to start lifting floorboards and looking behind walls etc in a couple of weeks time. My homes and building insurance will cover most of the cost but the upheaval potentially will be horrendous.
Just to satisfy myself, I called in an independent engineer to check over the boiler and he confirmed that the boiler itself was working as it should with no signs of any faults. I know that I'm not doing the system any good by re-pressurising every couple of hours so I try to go as long as I can without hot water and heating in between top ups.
The worrying thing for me is that, if the system is leaking water at such an alarming rate, why has it not manifested itself by evidence of water (stains, damp, actual water) coming through the wall or ceiling? It would be better if that happened as it would confirm where the leak was and it could then be repaired.
I'm perplexed and really stressed out about floorboards being taken up and walls being accessed behind the plaster board. What if they don't find any leak(s)? The only thing I can think of is that some of the pipes are buried in the concrete under the house and the water is leaking there. Having said that, the heating engineer wasn't sure if pipes were in the concrete and wouldn't know until he investigated further.
If anyone can suggest anything that would be causing the water pressure to drop so dramatically and so regularly and can also suggest alternative remedial measures, it would be much appreciated. Thanks for listening.
Since October last year, I have had the central heating on daily, averaging about 12 hours a day. In December, I got up one morning to find the boiler flashing the fault display 'E1 19' and, after consulting the User Guide I topped up the water pressure to one and a half bars. This was fine for 3 weeks after which the fault returned. After topping up again, everything was fine but only lasted for 1 week. To cut a long story short, this happened more frequently until I was needing to top up the water pressure every 4 days. At that point I called the heating engineer who services my boiler. He came and gave my boiler a thorough inspection and overhaul including the filling loop, expansion vessel, pressure relief valve, circulation, fan and water pressure switch. He then suggested that there was a leak in the system and proceeded to pour a bottle of 'leak sealer' into the boiler and asked me to monitor the water pressure for a week. He checked all the radiator valves which were dry
Alas, there was no difference - in fact things have worsened. I now have to re-pressurise the boiler every 2 hours. I've called the engineer out again and he said that the next step is to search for and identify any leaks in the pipe and radiator systems as it was losing a lot of water from somewhere. There are no visible signs of dampness in any internal walls and no evidence of any dampness coming up through the floor. I realize that there appears to be a lot of water leaking from somewhere in the system and the engineer is going to start lifting floorboards and looking behind walls etc in a couple of weeks time. My homes and building insurance will cover most of the cost but the upheaval potentially will be horrendous.
Just to satisfy myself, I called in an independent engineer to check over the boiler and he confirmed that the boiler itself was working as it should with no signs of any faults. I know that I'm not doing the system any good by re-pressurising every couple of hours so I try to go as long as I can without hot water and heating in between top ups.
The worrying thing for me is that, if the system is leaking water at such an alarming rate, why has it not manifested itself by evidence of water (stains, damp, actual water) coming through the wall or ceiling? It would be better if that happened as it would confirm where the leak was and it could then be repaired.
I'm perplexed and really stressed out about floorboards being taken up and walls being accessed behind the plaster board. What if they don't find any leak(s)? The only thing I can think of is that some of the pipes are buried in the concrete under the house and the water is leaking there. Having said that, the heating engineer wasn't sure if pipes were in the concrete and wouldn't know until he investigated further.
If anyone can suggest anything that would be causing the water pressure to drop so dramatically and so regularly and can also suggest alternative remedial measures, it would be much appreciated. Thanks for listening.
