Too much boiler pressure

[Lord Tyrion]

Our heating didn't come on this morning, lack of pressure. I turned the valve to let a little more water in, have to do this every year or two, but I may have let too much in. Heating is now on but needle is in the red. Should the system self regulate and release the pressure somehow over the course of the day or do I need to release some water?

I have googled it and people suggest bleeding the radiators, when cold.

Advice please.

 

[Blue in Munich]

In the absence of Stu C who will know the correct answer if ever I've overfilled mine I bleed it mine off at the towel rail in the bathroom (because that tends to be the easiest to access and it's at head height) until it's back in range. Mine won't actually play if it's overfilled. Get the other half to watch the gauge and shout when it's back within range. Personally I'd do it whilst it's running rather than run the system over pressure. Good luck.

 

[Rlburnside]

When this happened to my boiler the plumber took the top off the boiler and bled from somewhere in there.

 

[ManinBlack]

Just bleed a radiator, while the pump is running if you can. I do this with ours & it doesn't take much to put it right.

 

[Digger]

There should be a pressure relief valve which will sort it out for you. I wouldn't advise bleeding radiators with the pump running. Fine to bleed with the pump off, and this will indeed lower the pressure.

 

[Slime]

Heated towel rail for me, it won't take too long.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Too late Digger although I'm sure your advice is the most sensible, if I knew what a pressure release valve was it would help mind. I followed the initial advice and bled the radiators. It actually went very well until the last one. I struggled to get the key to grip. Finally did but then turned too far. Cue water spraying out and me struggling to get the key back on. I made it in the end, whilst scalding my thumb at the same time. Thankfully the amount of water that sprayed out was just enough and I'm back in the green zone 😂.

Thanks for the advice folks and I'm wiser now for future reference.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Too late Digger although I'm sure your advice is the most sensible, if I knew what a pressure release valve was it would help mind. I followed the initial advice and bled the radiators. It actually went very well until the last one. I struggled to get the key to grip. Finally did but then turned too far. Cue water spraying out and me struggling to get the key back on. I made it in the end, whilst scalding my thumb at the same time. Thankfully the amount of water that sprayed out was just enough and I'm back in the green zone 😂.

Thanks for the advice folks and I'm wiser now for future reference.

Can you get the wife or kids to video you doing next time please :thup:

 

[jim8flog]

If you are having to top up fairly regularly it may be a sign that there is a very slight leak somewhere. It took me an age to find that one of the rad valves had a very tiny leak which was disappearing in to the carpet and evaporating before there was major puddle.

PS the pressure relief valve normally has a pipe at the end which goes to outside of the house.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Can you get the wife or kids to video you doing next time please :thup:

It was like a 70's sitcom, ha ha.

Been out for the day, came back and the heating was off, low pressure again. Added a small amount into the system so it reached 1 bar and the heating kicked in. It then went up to 3.5, into the red again. Think I may need a proper man 😟.

 

[Digger]

It sounds very much like your expansion vessel has gone in the boiler. Shouldn't be an expensive fix.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Thanks. We have a guy who services the boiler. I'll contact him and explain that.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Don't worry about the needle being in the red, if the pressure gets too high, it will flow out of the prv (the little bit of copper you should have outside).

Always bleed your system with the heating off.

Bit late to the party here LT but if it's losing that much pressure that quick I'd say a leak or faulty Pressure Vessel. Is the boiler a main combi?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Don't worry about the needle being in the red, if the pressure gets too high, it will flow out of the prv (the little bit of copper you should have outside).

Always bleed your system with the heating off.

Bit late to the party here LT but if it's losing that much pressure that quick I'd say a leak or faulty Pressure Vessel. Is the boiler a main combi?

Stu. Yes it is. A baxi platinum.

Have always bled them cold in the past. Panic move this morning, won't do it again 😁.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Stu. Yes it is. A baxi platinum.

Have always bled them cold in the past. Panic move this morning, won't do it again 😁.

Baxi Platinum have a 10yr P&L warranty. They're very good boilers but I'd just get your service engineer to check there's no visible leaks before contacting baxi for a warranty call out.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

They may be 10 now but they were 5 when we got it 😟. It's not been a great one for us and many things have been replaced under warranty. This is the first issue for a while. The service guy is decent so I'll ring him. Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

They may be 10 now but they were 5 when we got it 😟. It's not been a great one for us and many things have been replaced under warranty. This is the first issue for a while. The service guy is decent so I'll ring him. Cheers.

That's a shame, I've fitted loads in the last few years and had no issues.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Yeah. I think it was a Friday afternoon job. 10yr warranty suggests they are pretty confident in their product, we just get a bad one.