I need a wee bit of help.

I have basically tee'd off my Central Heating circuit for a radiator. I would say that the run is around 3 metres long (1 Supply, 1 Return). At the moment, I dont have a radiator to put on and wont for 4 weeks. I need to get the floor down NOW!!

I have capped off the Supply and Return at the wall, using Compression Stops.

My question is this. If I turn on the heating and bleed all the radiators is this new run fully pressurised?? I want to know if the new joints have been successful so that I can lay the floor. There doesn't appear to be any water coming out of them, but maybe there isnt enough pressure?

I now have the boiler running and have bled all the rads and set the boiler to 1.5 bar. It is slowly gaining pressure whilst the boiler is running and with the fill-loop closed and we turned the boiler off when it approached 2 bar as I was worried!! Is this right? It is a Combi boiler BTW.

Do I need to bleed these capped stubs?

Ta in advance........

 

Anyone???

 

I'd have thought to get the new section full you'd have to pipe between the 2 new legs to complete your flow/return path..... where can the air go when there is no way of bleeding it out ?

but then, Im an electrician !?

 

TIF is one aint he?

 

The two capped pipes will have pressure in them...but only trapped air. AS you have capped them off water wont flow down them. Turn you heating on, and if any air comes out then you know they aint sealed....you should have time to nip the compression joint up a bit more without any water coming out so you dont have to switch heating back off.

 

just crack off the compressions till you see water and then nip them back up, make sure the pump isn't running when you do them!

you can get a vacuum effect(although not on a fully pressurised system) and instead of leaking water out you can pull air in if you have the pump running when bleeding

get the system hot, shut it down and bleed it all!!!!

HTH
Pugo

 

As said above really Christian

The pressures you are running on the boiler are fine aswell mate

 

So you bleed the system without the pump running??

As I said, we set the pressure to 1.5 bar, then saw it rise to almost 2 bar with the pump runnig. I then turned the boiler off and overnight it dropped back to around 1.5 bar (just under). There is no sign of water anyway. Most of the joins are soldered, it is only the caps that are compression fittings. What is the best thing to put on the joint to see if there is an air leak?? Washing up liquid?

Thanks again guys!!

 

you won't need to put anything on it, once you have cycled the system i.e. got it hot, let it cooled, if its going to leak water it will have done by now !!!!

just wipe a bit of tissue/finger around the joints , you will see straight away if its wet!!!!


pugo

 

the easiest way is to check your pressure guage! if its a combi and you pressurise it to 1.5 bar and it stays the same,then no leak!

 

Yeah you will feel any leak by hand....or i use my cheek as cheeks are sensitive

If there is a leak that you cant feel youll notice the pressure on the combi drop. Reason it goes up when heating is on is that hot water expands..then drops back to 1.5 bar when it cools

 

OK, just to make sure I have understood, the new stretch (feed and return) of pipe, which isn't properly on the circuit as there is no radiator yet, can I assume that if no leaks are apparent then I am safe to put the floor down?

 

Yes mate.

 

yes, just make a quick check of the joints to make sure theyre all dry,and check the system pressure to make sure it hasn't dropped ,pressurised systems show up leaks very quickly,just make sure you dont put a nail through the pipework

 

Sounds good. I reset the system pressure to 1.5 bar this morning and Beccy has told me that it is still on 1.5 bar now, so looks like I am in the clear!!

This is my first attempt at pipe soldering, hence the panic!!

CheeRS for your help everyone!!