Faulty pressure gauge?

[Carlos_UK]

Hi,

I have an ideal classic ff230 system boiler, I happened to notice earlier that the pressure gauge was reading just over 3 bar so I immediately turned off the heating and allowed the system to cool.

Once it was cool, the pressure gauge read just above 0.5 bar which suggests the pressure relief valve has been activating at some point, so I released the system pressure and tested the pressure of the expansion vessel which was reading 0.85 bar which I believe is correct for my system, no water came out of the Schroeder valve so the diaphragm appears to be fine, so I put the top cover back but noticed that as I did the pressure gauge was moving up and down as the wire that connects it to the pressure relief valve is moved, so would this suggest that the pressure gauge is faulty and not giving an accurate reading or a loose connection to it?

The wire is quite stiff and feels similar to a metal coat hanger, is there a particular way this should sit?

I've attached a few photos as well!

Thanks,
Carl.

 

[Crinkmeister]

You know someone will be along shortly to tell you off?!

 

[Carlos_UK]

You know someone will be along shortly to tell you off?!

I hope not, I just want to establish if the pressure guage is faulty or if the wire has to sit a certain way, I have got british gas homecare, I'd just rather sort it now if its something simple rather than having no heating or hot water until they can come out, and to be clear the cover I refer to is not the actual boiler cover, just the one at the top that hides the expansion vessel and pump, I would never remove the actual boiler cover!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

I hope not, I just want to establish if the pressure guage is faulty or if the wire has to sit a certain way, I have got british gas homecare, I'd just rather sort it now if its something simple rather than having no heating or hot water until they can come out, and to be clear the cover I refer to is not the actual boiler cover, just the one at the top that hides the expansion vessel and pump, I would never remove the actual boiler cover!

your quite right its a deco panel hiding the vessel and the gauge is built into it,personally i would get BG to sort it,if you break that thin wire you will have water everywhere

 

[Carlos_UK]

your quite right its a deco panel hiding the vessel and the gauge is built into it,personally i would get BG to sort it,if you break that thin wire you will have water everywhere

So that wire has water in it? I wondered how that worked!

That wire seems too long and is squashed, so maybe that's the problem?

I took a photo of it, but for some reason I can't post it!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

So that wire has water in it? I wondered how that worked!

That wire seems too long and is squashed, so maybe that's the problem?

I took a photo of it, but for some reason I can't post it!

upload them to photobucket and post the links here

 

[Carlos_UK]

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[Billy Bob Bob]

the black wire going to the safety valve,dont break that,there will be a flood,its connected to the ch water

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Get BG in, they'll have you a new boiler in no time..... :lol:

 

[Carlos_UK]

Ok, so to clarify I should leave it alone and presume that the pressure is currently within the correct margins as its still coming on and heating and rely on the safety devices to protect me if its not and then call out BG and hope they find the problem which is presumably that black pipe or the pressure gauge?

Presumably, if the pressure is too low, the boiler won't work?

Thanks,
Carl.

 

[Crinkmeister]

I hope not, I just want to establish if the pressure guage is faulty or if the wire has to sit a certain way, I have got british gas homecare, I'd just rather sort it now if its something simple rather than having no heating or hot water until they can come out, and to be clear the cover I refer to is not the actual boiler cover, just the one at the top that hides the expansion vessel and pump, I would never remove the actual boiler cover!

My mistake. Sorry!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Ok, so to clarify I should leave it alone and presume that the pressure is currently within the correct margins as its still coming on and heating and rely on the safety devices to protect me if its not and then call out BG and hope they find the problem which is presumably that black pipe or the pressure gauge?

Presumably, if the pressure is too low, the boiler won't work?

Thanks,
Carl.

if the pressure gets to low your boiler relies on a safety thermostat,sadly it can get low enough to damage componants before it kicks in,if you have a service contract,raise a service call

 

[Carlos_UK]

Just a quick update, I switched everything off last night, but got up at 4:30 am to have another look and turn on the immersion if necessary ready for the Mrs to get ready for work a few hours later, the pressure gauge was reading 0.5 bar so I repressurised the system to just under 1.5 bar and then ran it, the pressure raised quite quickly to 2.5 bar and sat there until everything was at temperature and switched off, the pressure then dropped quite rapidly to almost zero so I turned everything back off again and switched on the immersion!

Anyways I called out British gas and they're coming out today between 12 and 6, so hopefully they can fix it!

Should I explain what I've done so far to the engineer or just plead ignorance and hope they find the problem?

Thanks.

 

[Carlos_UK]

Ok, a further update, the BG engineer suspected the pressure vessel had lost its charge and so pumped it up, he also fixed the prv as he suspected it was dripping and said to monitor it.

I've not long been home and have noticed that with the system cold, it has dropped back down to 0.5 bar! They're coming back out on Tuesday!

Any thoughts?

Carlos.

 

[Dotty]

A PRV can't be 'fixed'.

Call BG back out. That or a local guy who actually knows what he's doing.

 

[Carlos_UK]

That's what I thought, I think I'm going to put a bag over the pipe and repressurise to see what happens ready for when they come back, the guy also said it wouldn't damage the boiler if the pressure got too low, it would just not heat up the rads and cylinder as efficiently.

The trouble is I rent and so its the landlord that has the bg cover, so out of my hands really!

 

[phs]

They should change the pressure relief valve, and if they recharged the vessel but now its lost pressure again, then they should change that as well.
You probably didn't get the right reading when you checked the vessel pressure as you need to have let the pressure out and leave it open so there is nothing pushing back against the diaphramn

 

[Carlos_UK]

The guy said that you can't get the vessel any more, so hope that's not knackered!

 

[e/bourneplumber]

you can still fit an external vessel on the system

 

[e/bourneplumber]

british gas say that you cant get a lot of things anymore, thats because british gas can only shop at their own stores. a local engineer can shop around and usually find what you want.

 

[Carlos_UK]

It turned out the flexi pipe was blocked and the aav was leaking, but still going to keep an eye on the pressure relief pipe outside as that hasn't been replaced yet!