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Post by Andy on Apr 2, 2013 13:22:28 GMT -5
Hi Mike. Great site with some really useful info. My Powermax 155X is about 9 years old now I think. I always have the odd lockout but I can live with these.. however, yesterday we noticed water stains on the lounge ceiling. After checking under floors and waiting for it to present it self, we have discovered the water is leaking from the Tundish. It always drips but the pipe must be blocked as its now overflowing!
Can you please advise what this could be? Is it a combination of several issues? - overflow pipe blocked / PRV defective?
Also, i'm an ex-RAF propulsion engineer so am competant with fuel / water system and replacing complex components. Are these things I can replace myself and where do you recommend for spares?
Many thanks,
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Post by Mike the Boilerman on Apr 5, 2013 3:02:27 GMT -5
Andy,
The tundish is there so you can see that the pressure relief valve is discharging. It discharges because the pressure in the system is too high, or because the washer in it no longer seats correctly. What does the pressure gauge read? The PRV should begin to open at 3.0 bar, no lower. This info will help diagnosis.
If the pressure is above zero, the sealed system must be getting top-up water from somewhere. The options are:
1) The filling loop has been left connected and the valve(s) on it aren't fully closed
2) There is an internal leak in the plate heat exchanger allowing mains water to over-fill the thermal store/rad circuit
My money is on 1), and at the same time, check the gas pressure in the expansion vessel. It is usually zero, should be set to 1.0 bar, same ast the system pressure.
Spares from the internet or ebay.
Mike
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Post by Andy on Apr 10, 2013 8:43:40 GMT -5
Thanks Mike. It seems a combination of things was pushing the pressure above 3 bar. I drained the system and checked the expansion vessel and it was 0. I pumped this up to 1 bar using a hand pump then pressurised to 1.5 bar using the water top up feed. I cycled the PRV about 4 / 5 times of which pumped out some dirty water but has now stopped the drip. The system now maintainss about 1 - 2 bar. Also the overflow was blocked at the outlet hence the overflow! All now seems OK but I did buy a new PRV and AAV just in case. Thanks again for the info and the very imformative website! I will be back!  |
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Post by Mike the Boilerman on Apr 13, 2013 9:43:59 GMT -5
Excellent, sounds like you've cracked it!
Mike
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