Strange wet patch underneath radiator...

[jambokaos87]

Good morning all,

First ever post on this forum

Recently moved into a ground floor flat and have had an absolute nightmare of a time since. Had to fork out a large sum of money within 3 weeks of moving in on a brand new boiler. However, this was not the solution to my problems.

Essentially the new boiler has a digital pressure gauge on the front and it seems to lose 0.1-0.2 mbar each day since it was installed on Tuesday. The old boiler also did this.

I've gone round to check my rads (I have 7 in total inside the flat) and checked for leaks and couldn't spot anything. I have a large radiator covering the living room/dining room and I noticed that the carpet under the left edge of the radiator was very damp. There are no drips that I can see coming from that end of the radiator either. The carpet also had a strange greasy/oily feel to it.

The radiator is attached to an outside facing wall. I've checked the length of the carpet against that wall and there were no other damp patches other than the patch I found underneath the radiator.

Could this be the culprit? Really nervous about this

 

[king of pipes]

Yes it probably is , the seam will be rusted or the the rad pin holed this will leak when under pressure isolate that rad and see if your boiler holds pressure put a container where the damp patch is to see what is collected cheers kop

 

[jambokaos87]

Thanks for your quick reply kop. By isolating it do you mean turning the TRV down to 0?

 

[king of pipes]

Yes and turn the lockshied valve off on the other end you will need a a small adjustable to do this pull the white cap off to reveal the stem cheers kop

 

[jambokaos87]

Well nothing was collected after I ran the heating for an hour. I've left a container underneath the radiator.

If the new boiler is losing 0.1-0.2 mbar a day, how much water are we talking about here?

 

[king of pipes]

A cup full if that bud thats the beauty of sealed systems they contain on average 100 + litres so the boiler will shut down below .5 bar if it leaks and you know theres a problem , get your plumber back to replace the rad cheers kop

 

[Stigster]

A cup full if that bud thats the beauty of sealed systems they contain on average 100 + litres so the boiler will shut down below .5 bar if it leaks and you know theres a problem , get your plumber back to replace the rad cheers kop

We don't know that the radiator itself is leaking yet though. It could just as easily be a pin holed pipe under the rad spraying a tiny jet of water up at the underside of the floor. Isolating that rad completely as you suggested to eliminate it from our enquiries is great advice though.

 

[king of pipes]

Hes already done that bud and run the heating for a hour and no leak ????? Its in his last post Cheers kop

 

[Stigster]

Leak probably under the floor then.

 

[Dkdc71]

Pinhole in coil in cylinder ?