strange gas leak

[rawr]

so's I put a boiler in right, everything's o.k. gas tightness test everything is fine, in fact I must have left in on around 5 minutes (watched it for standard time then left it to on while doing other things because why not) so it was definitely a pass, fire the boiler up, everything's o.k, commission the boiler, go downstairs get cust to sign commissioning checklist fill in guarantee, show him how to use the programmer, goes back upstairs and I can hear hissing =\ got a smell of gas immediately, so I open the window real quick, nip down turn the gas off, re-solder the fittings it seemed to be coming from and it then passed another drop test, but the thing I don't understand is like, the leak was a bad one seriously the gas made me dizzy it was that much a leak but how come it didn't leak until the boiler had been running for at least 5 - 10 minutes =s

 

[jtsplumbing]

Poss the flux on the fitting ! when you ran the boiler heat transfer let the flux melt ! result leak, had the same with water will hold up untill you run hot water through it, then away it go's,

 

[Gray0689]

I Agree seen flux hold an unsolderd fitting hold water at 3 bar never mind mbar lol

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Yeah, had the same problem, with flux, seems la-co is bad for this in my experience. prefer everflux now.

 

[Gray0689]

Power flow myself lol hate ever flux

 

[vern]

Poss the flux on the fitting ! when you ran the boiler heat transfer let the flux melt ! result leak, had the same with water will hold up untill you run hot water through it, then away it go's,

Exactly this....
Once had a tee hold 2 bar of cold water on 22 mm flow on a combi, left overnight as well, soon as flow was 65 on the boiler bang it went! Flux is very good at holding joints sometimes, consider you tested at 20 Mbar, my tee withstood 2000 Mbar!
I once took out a floor standing boiler, that had passed numerous Tightness tests, mine included I found a 15mm soldered elbow only soldered on 1 side holding on the flux behind the boiler! Makes you think!

 

[vern]

Power flow myself lol hate ever flux

Lol it was ever flux that held the tee above!

 

[rawr]

lol thats crazy, but thanks for the replies guys =D

 

[Gray0689]

Lol at least you know your not the only one that's ever done it lol

 

[mountainman]

I used to have problems with Powerflow so I stopped using it years ago.
I prefer Laco and then Everflux :yesnod:

 

[Gray0689]

Problems with power flow what was the problems?

 

[mountainman]

Problems with power flow what was the problems?

I found it gritty which made joints difficult to twist or demount before soldering and I also felt that it overheated too readily whilst soldering.

 

[Gray0689]

Yes it can sometimes but if you keep clean its grand but everyone to there own

 

[kirkgas]

Rawr, why font you know this is possible? And it's also why pipes need to be visually inspected before you turn the gas on, I mean soldered fittings will hold 6 bar, so surely it must be easy to solder to hold 20mb

 

[hammers4spanner]

Am i reading this right ,that you left it on tight test for 5 mins and went off to do other things? if this is case then isnt that classed as open end ?

 

[kirkgas]

Hammer I read it the same as you, the fact that he left it on while doing something else is technically wrong, but I'm more bothered by the fact that he left it on longer just because, cause I would suggest " just because" shows a lack of confidence in his soldering

 

[Gray0689]

I don't think it shows a lack of confidence at all imho
Agree joins should be checked but sometimes can be missed if rushing but that's no excuse

 

[julesverne]

weve all made mistakes at one point or another its because were human.
anyone who says otherwise is a liar.
its only becomes a problem when you dont learn from that mistake or take advise on board to not repeat the same mistake.

 

[hammers4spanner]

yes we do all make mistakes but imo the OP needs to think about his/hers gas safety a tad more

 

[rawr]

gas meter was outside, but yeah fair, thinking about it that way your all right. deserve a major kick up the back side for that one

 

[stevetheplumber]

i once failed to solder two socket former joints on heating f and r which didnt leak for 18 months

 

[REDSAW]

Yeah, had the same problem, with flux, seems la-co is bad for this in my experience. prefer everflux now.

not if you use solder with it.lol.loco