red rad water

[Billy Bob Bob]

got a new one even for me[i thought i had seen most things]goes to show lifes all about learning any way initiated a de scale after changing 2 pin holed rads
[boiler and system is 3 year old]water in the system is red ,bright red., my thoughts are faulty loop or plate heat exchanger,but....no no overpressureing? loop not passing prv not lifting and when hot 1.5 bar? confuseing this system is clearly oxygenated,but the symptoms are not there loop ok,system presure stable,prv not lifting anyone want to throw opinions on this?dont be shy,boilers a ideal mini he 24 kw

 

[REDSAW]

fibre washer gone?.
had one last year on indirect, turned out to be fibre washer on cylinder was breaking down and sending dye into h/w suply for at least 3 weeks prior. so when tap was run h/w was pink / red. as yours is in heating circuit, it gets deeper red iron oxide colour.
just a thought.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

on what?

 

[Cds]

Has the system been drain down for any length of time?

When working for a radiator manufacturer a Hotel in London had a problem with lots of radiators pin holeing.

They had been refurbishing a floor at a time and had drained down the heating on the floor they were working on leaving it drained for the summer whilst work went on. The small amount of water in left in the bottom of the radiator caused corrosion (red oxide due to the excess oxygen) and resulted in radiators failing.

This could account for both the radiators failing and the red water.

 

[migoplumber]

i descaled a t boiler a few months back, got a call the next day, women swearing blind blue water coming out of said t boiler, i returned. sure enuf blue water, was the acid reacting with the copper (hadnt flushed system well enuf)
might be along the same lines? rust is red - look for iron fitting ??

good luck and make sure you post the results !!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

thanks everyone for the suggestions,will let you know what the cause ultimately turns out to be

 

[oldplumber]

Check the system isnt using plastic pipework that isnt a barrier pipe type, non barrier pipe allows oxygen to pass back into the sytem hence rusting, dont believe me check barrier pipe on the net

 

[Cds]

Oldplumber agree with your comments re barrier pipe this can be a real problem. However I do not think so in this case as the oxide formed would be black not red.

When there is an excess of oxygen as in open air the oxide formed is red in colour. When there is a deficit of oxygen as you would get in a heating system with non barrier pipe the oxide formed is black.

 

[oldplumber]

good point cds, although the initial colour of water in heating systems that are new and filled with fresh water is orangy coloured until things settle from my experience. The black products take a little longer to form and collect.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

the color on this system water is almost like blood waiting for the tenant to tell me they have clocked up 30 hours to descale it and go from there