Boiler losing pressure, leak maybe somewhere in the loop?

[Salty22]

I had a new ATAG Combi fitted last April and its been absolutely brilliant until it got to the winter months and my central heating was used more, it started coming up with warnings that the boiler pressure is low and the loop needed topping up.
It needs topping up about every 5-7 days currently.

I got the guy out who fitted it for me and he said more likely than not there's a leak in the system, i said I've been keeping an eye out and cant find a single drop anywhere and surely for the amount its losing pressure after a year there would be visible signs of a leak somewhere.
The boiler fitter checked the boiler when he did the service two weeks ago and said it was fine but said he would get an ATAG engineer out to check the pressure release valve and double check the boiler.
The ATAG engineer came last Thursday and said the boiler was definitely working correctly, he said the water temp/pressure or something was set a little high so hes set that a little lower and it shouldn't lose pressure anymore.

I got to work Friday morning and my wife messaged me to say there was no hot water, the boiler had lost so much pressure that all function had stopped until it was refilled.
I thought to myself maybe it just needed a topup after the engineer sorted it so filled upto 1.5bar as usual, yet this morning we've woken up to no hot water because the loops down to 0.3bar and it needed filling again.

I'm guessing that there is a leak in the loop somewhere and im tempted to get a different plumber out to try to find it for me, my original boiler fitter was absolutely ******* useless and didnt seem interested in finding the leak if there was one.
Im at a loss as to what to do, after spending the best part of 2k on a new boiler i was hoping all problems would be sorted.

 

[R.C.Anderson]

Definitely sounds like a leak to me. Was everything fine before the new boiler? Were any radiators etc changed at the same time/since?

In the last place I was renting, I was getting a similar drop, so got my landlord to get someone out, it turned out to be al the radiator valves were only tightened up finger tight, so were leaking (some worse than others). I assume you've already checked to make sure all the radiators are bled properly to remove any air that may be escaping?

You should have a pressure release "overflow" from the boiler, which is normally a copper pipe that comes out of the side of the house & ends. Have you tried pressurising, then checking this pipe to see if anything's coming out? This would indicate a faulty pressure release in the boiler.

You don't need much water to leak to get quite a drop in pressure, as water doesn't compress, but for over 1 bar drop on a regular basis, you would expect to see evidence of it somewhere. It might be worth wrapping kitchen roll/toilet paper round any possibly locations (joints under boiler, on rads etc) for a few days, as it should be fairly obvious if anything has leaked from one of these locations, even if it's minimal. If there's no evidence anywhere you can see internally, and it's not the boiler's pressure release, your only real option is to start investigating the hidden portions.

 

[Salty22]

Definitely sounds like a leak to me. Was everything fine before the new boiler? Were any radiators etc changed at the same time/since?

In the last place I was renting, I was getting a similar drop, so got my landlord to get someone out, it turned out to be al the radiator valves were only tightened up finger tight, so were leaking (some worse than others). I assume you've already checked to make sure all the radiators are bled properly to remove any air that may be escaping?

You should have a pressure release "overflow" from the boiler, which is normally a copper pipe that comes out of the side of the house & ends. Have you tried pressurising, then checking this pipe to see if anything's coming out? This would indicate a faulty pressure release in the boiler.

You don't need much water to leak to get quite a drop in pressure, as water doesn't compress, but for over 1 bar drop on a regular basis, you would expect to see evidence of it somewhere. It might be worth wrapping kitchen roll/toilet paper round any possibly locations (joints under boiler, on rads etc) for a few days, as it should be fairly obvious if anything has leaked from one of these locations, even if it's minimal. If there's no evidence anywhere you can see internally, and it's not the boiler's pressure release, your only real option is to start investigating the hidden portions.

I had an ancient non combi boiler before this, never had any kind of filling valve etc but i used to have to bleed the rads a lot.
Yeah i replaced radiators in my bedroom and my sons room, also fitted a new radiator in the utility room where there wasnt one before.
Theres old radiators in daughters room, two in the living room and one in the hallway.
I had a new bathroom fitted a month later also and the radiator in there changed to a large heated towel holder.

Since i had the new boiler theres not been any need to bleed the rads at all, every single time ive checked theyve been boiling hot to the very top.

I'll try your trick with wrapping paper around under the rads etc, but i havent been able to find any visible signs.
Its very worrying, thanks for your help mate.

 

[Salty22]

Sods law, ive just gone mad with the kitchen towel and decided to rip the carpet up on the corner of my sons room where the new rad was fitted and think ive found it.
Its coming out of where the elbow meets the pipe in the floor.

 

[Countcussy]

EDIT - too late !!! Could be worse, my pipes are in the walls !!

 

[Salty22]

EDIT - too late !!! Could be worse, my pipes are in the walls !!

I was worried it was in our room because getting the floor boards up in there would be an absolute nightmare lol.
Think this should be an easy fix

 

[Buffman]

Can't really tell from the photo, but unsure why the hole for the pipe is that big!

 

[Salty22]

Can't really tell from the photo, but unsure why the hole for the pipe is that big!

God knows, the lad that fitted that rad was the same guy who fitted the bathroom and he was pretty terrible but we only realised after.
The hole is only about an inch from the pipe but looks bigger with the zoom and angle of the pic.

 

[Buffman]

At least it offers "easy access"

 

[rexehuk]

Maybe didn't clean flux off? Looks pretty corroded.

Kudos for finding the leak though!

 

[R.C.Anderson]

At least you found it, and it wasn't too well hidden! Depending on how much of that was new, it may have either not been soldered correctly, or if it's old, it might have been dislodged (if not quite properly soldered, but not previously leaking) when the new radiator was put on.

That does look like a rather large hole, but I guess it's easier to do that, than to pull up more floorboards, even if it isn't really the "right" way to do it! This is why I'm doing everything myself (that I can legally) in my house renovation (I've already added house wide central heating (previously storage heaters), and on to bathroom next!)

 

[Salty22]

This house has been a nightmare in everyway since 2008 when i moved in.
The guy who lived here before me fancied himself as a handyman so i've found some right sights here.
Dunno if ive already said but the boiler fitter i had is coming to fix the leak tomorrow for me so fingers crossed thats the only one.
This rad was changed by the guy that did my bathroom last may, its a young local lad who i didnt know at the same rushes about doing about 4 different jobs at the same time and would never employ again.

 

[Salty22]

Just had it fixed, fingers crossed it holds pressure correctly now

 

[Salty22]

Update for you guys:
Since that rad elbow pipe got fixed its been perfect

 

[DarrenM343]

EDIT - too late !!! Could be worse, my pipes are in the walls !!

I can do one worse. Plastic pipes in the walls ! . And sods law I've had an issue. To date luckily some rad seal stuff has done the trick for a few years. Better than ripping house apart. Happened soon after I moved in. Boiler became blocked (some builder thought he must have been clever pushing the pipes through the walls (plaster inside boiler caused blockage) and seems like a plastic pipe sprang a leak before pressure release outside the house kicked in.

 

[Salty22]

Hearing things like that makes me so thankful i got my problem sorted so easily