Help - Could I have damaged my boiler

[Matt101]

Stupidly I secured the PRV shut temporarily so the heating would still work while I got a new one to replace the leaking PRV. My wife then added some water through the filling loop without asking me - I just checked the pressure and it has been running at 4.7 bar, of course I shut it of immediately but could I have damaged the boiler in anyway? At what pressure would something in the system blow at? It's a Vaillant ecotec 418 system boiler on a sealed central heating system

For info the PRV is set to 3 bar
Thanks

 

[HoodedClaw]

i'm no expert with boilers but I would think its tested to run at double that pressure, so I wouldn't panic if there aren't any leaks.

I'm sure an engineer will be on to confirm soon.

 

[quality]

It is possible that you may have damaged the expansion vessel

put the new prv on an see how it goes but it is quite possible that its the expansion vessel that was at fault to start with and not the prv

hope ya get it fixed instead of flooding ya house

 

[Blackcatgas]

It will be fine, dont ever let me catch you blocking off your PRV again, you could have blown your boiler up, very very naughty, bad Mathew.

 

[Matt101]

But the PRV was leaking so why do you think possibly the expasion vessel could be at fault? The pressure gauge on the boiler never went into the red? When running at 80 degrees the EV reads about 1.5 bar, does this seem normal?
Thanks

 

[Centralheatking]

I would have loved to hear the radiators pinging at +4 bar - seriously do go round and check rads and
visible joints as well.

centralheatking

 

[Blackcatgas]

the prv was activated for a reason, the pressure in the boiler went above 3 bar, this is because somone left the filling loop open or the exp vessel is shot so wont take up the expansion of the water when its hot so the pressutre got above 3bar and activated the prv, and when a prv has been activated esp if its an old one they never quite seal again perfectly.

 

[gasmarc]

lets put it this way would you seal a kettle and switch it on ,I dont think so, you are best leaving alone as by the sounds of it you are a danger to yourself and more importantly your family and anyone else who enters the property

 

[wnjswozo]

if we did what you did as a temp repair,we would be locked up,you more or less created a potenail bomb

 

[fuzzy]

But the PRV was leaking so why do you think possibly the expasion vessel could be at fault? The pressure gauge on the boiler never went into the red? When running at 80 degrees the EV reads about 1.5 bar, does this seem normal?
Thanks

EV Reads? what do you mean by EV?

 

[Dotty]

Prolly the guage attached to the expansion vessel (EV.......Geddit?).
Has to be an external vessel. Luckily. Cheaper to replace.

But yeah as said before, Never ever ever cap off your PRV. You could've had a very nasty accident! Best to let it let by until replaced.

Lucky this time!

 

[fuzzy]

Prolly the guage attached to the expansion vessel (EV.......Geddit?).
Has to be an external vessel. Luckily. Cheaper to replace.

But yeah as said before, Never ever ever cap off your PRV. You could've had a very nasty accident! Best to let it let by until replaced.

Lucky this time!

gauage attached to expansion vessel? the pressure in the EV or system?

 

[Dotty]

You know how external expansion vessels have the pressure guage sitting on the manifold immediately underneath? The only vessels I've seen with vessel pressure gauges mounted on them are commercial 2000L ones.

Why am I answering you Fuzzy? you upset me in another post! 😛

 

[fuzzy]

hence my confusion croppie?
i was trying to make sure the poster knew what he was checking. i used to work alot on commercial, even fitted self made sealed ch systems with large ev's. cannot remember what the gauge checked vessel pressure or system. i presume system as vessel pressure pointless once filed, needs to be empty, hang on a minute, the commercial evs had ls valves and drain offs for checking, too much system to drain

 

[Dotty]

Lol, I love it when I come across pressure sets and vessels with no iso valves. Another couple of hours added to the service!

 

[Matt101]

Yes lucky this time, stupid thing to do I know...still be interested to know what pressure something would give though. The expansion vessel says it has a working max pressure of only 3 bar, so a good safety margin built into that I guess. If anyone would like me to come round and carry out a temp repair on their system just let me know and I'll bring my G-clamp with me...Thanks for all your replies