Good afternoon!
This is my first post here, and looking at other threads it seems that you're a helpful, friendly bunch!
My house was built in 1976 and I have problems with the rubbish copper piping that was used in those days. Three years ago, there was a leak under the kitchen floor (over Christmas) and the plumber wanted only to replace a 12-inch section of pipe. I could see that the lagging was soaked and rotting, so I exposed all the pipe runs and found several pin pricks, and got him to replace all the pipes under the kitchen floor.
Now I've just spotted a leak above the living-room ceiling, which seems to come from a pipe connecting two rads. I have a plumber coming tomorrow, courtesy of my insurance company.
Apart from the problem recurring anyway, my big concern is that my Potterton Profile boiler is 19 years old and my service engineer is sucking his teeth about the reducing availability of spare parts. I don't mind buying a new boiler (and the obligatory TRVs), but gather that manufacturers nowadays require a power flush when it's installed; I'm concerned that this will worsen remaining weaknesses in the pipework.
One amateur's idea that I have is a few weeks before the boiler is fitted to add one of those internal leak-sealing liquids to the system - or would the power flush just wash it away?
(Perhaps the pipework might have lasted longer had service engineers checked and topped up the corrosion inhibitor, something I've been doing myself in the past few years but wasn't done before that.)
Moonraker
Since posting the above, I've been looking around this and other forums, and the overall sense that I get is that I could get the rad water tested to test the corrosion level, that a chemical flush might do, but some installers, including British Gas may advise/insist on a power flush.
This is my first post here, and looking at other threads it seems that you're a helpful, friendly bunch!
My house was built in 1976 and I have problems with the rubbish copper piping that was used in those days. Three years ago, there was a leak under the kitchen floor (over Christmas) and the plumber wanted only to replace a 12-inch section of pipe. I could see that the lagging was soaked and rotting, so I exposed all the pipe runs and found several pin pricks, and got him to replace all the pipes under the kitchen floor.
Now I've just spotted a leak above the living-room ceiling, which seems to come from a pipe connecting two rads. I have a plumber coming tomorrow, courtesy of my insurance company.
Apart from the problem recurring anyway, my big concern is that my Potterton Profile boiler is 19 years old and my service engineer is sucking his teeth about the reducing availability of spare parts. I don't mind buying a new boiler (and the obligatory TRVs), but gather that manufacturers nowadays require a power flush when it's installed; I'm concerned that this will worsen remaining weaknesses in the pipework.
One amateur's idea that I have is a few weeks before the boiler is fitted to add one of those internal leak-sealing liquids to the system - or would the power flush just wash it away?
(Perhaps the pipework might have lasted longer had service engineers checked and topped up the corrosion inhibitor, something I've been doing myself in the past few years but wasn't done before that.)
Moonraker
Since posting the above, I've been looking around this and other forums, and the overall sense that I get is that I could get the rad water tested to test the corrosion level, that a chemical flush might do, but some installers, including British Gas may advise/insist on a power flush.
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