Any plumbers in the caff at the mo please

[jayze]

Its like the bloody artic and my boiler is on the blink!....have sat outside with a hairdryer on the outflow pipe and now wrapped it up in old woolies......have bumped up the pressure but shes slowly losing a bit...so assume a leak...but need a man (hell yeah we do sometimes!) to put two and two together and come up with the right answer. HELP! and yeah I have called a plumber or two but they are either busy or snowed in. And PLEASE mr moderators dont chuck me off for talkin about boilers cos it might be a matter of life and death the way the weathers going at the mo!....any replies appreciated:(

[Dobbie03]

Move to somewhere where it is warmer.

[sudoer541]

Its like the bloody artic and my boiler is on the blink!....have sat outside with a hairdryer on the outflow pipe and now wrapped it up in old woolies......have bumped up the pressure but shes slowly losing a bit...so assume a leak...but need a man (hell yeah we do sometimes!) to put two and two together and come up with the right answer. HELP! and yeah I have called a plumber or two but they are either busy or snowed in. And PLEASE mr moderators dont chuck me off for talkin about boilers cos it might be a matter of life and death the way the weathers going at the mo!....any replies appreciated:(

if plumbers are busy. look at yellow pages and call every plumber. Do you live in a populated area?

[jayze]

Oh hell...well thanks anyway... well theres two plumbers within about 50 miles and theres no point moving these days cos the climate changes faster than you can sell your house....:(

[clanky]

Bit more info?

What kind of boiler? Oil / Gas / Central Heating / Combi

Make / Model?

What exactly is the problem? Is it just that you keep having to increase the water pressure to make the boiler light or will it not light at all?

[clanky]

Where are you? sounds like UK?

[jayze]

Clanky.....a hero at last ! lol....shes a gas combi ( not mains gas)....she just keeps stopping and going onto "reset" mode....the overflow pipe thaw out did help a bit...but since I the pressure is still dropping ever so slowly I'm fearfull of the worst overnight. Yes UK. Its a Worcester greenstar 24i junior......:)...and ty for the reply

[jayze]

PS...lol ...sods law the only thing in my house thats overheating is the laptop:lolflag:

[clanky]

There should be a button with a little spanner symbol on it or beside it, press and hold that and let me know what happens.

P.S. For the boiler to work properly it is really important that the condensate pipe is fully thawed out, make sure that it is completely thawed.

[pricetech]

I'm in the US and not familiar with the device in question, but I'll send you my warmest wishes and say a prayer for you.

[mkvnmtr]

There are only two ways to proceed until a plumber gets there. One is to shut off the water supply and blow out the lines with compressed air. The other is leave the water running so it will not freeze. Depends you might have to have it running pretty strong. You will have to do the one that you can do. It takes a bit of equipment and knowledge to blow the pipes out. Gook luck and if it freezes turn the water off and do not turn it on until the plumber is there.

[jayze]

right then clanky and pricetech....off to push the button....meanwhile can you give me some advice on tactics as how best to avoid a freeze up etc etc...what should I do other than keep warm and try to fix the boiler....back in a mo:)

[Post Monkeh]

when you put the pressure back in you likely have to manually reset the boiler (varies by make/model i'd assume, i'm no plumber) but if you can visibly see the pressure dropping then you're in trouble. we have a leak in our system somewhere (also gas) but it takes a week or so for the pressure to drop out and we have to re-pressurise and reset the boiler.

if you have a bad enough leak that you can see the pressure dropping then you're not gonna keep the boiler going. my first suggestion would be to try to find the leak and, if you can, bypass it or plug it up. hopefully it's a radiator and you can just turn it off (at both ends, there's a return valve at the side of the radiator away from the knob you use to turn it on and off - you'll need pliers for this one)

if the leak is from a pipe then you're in trouble. if it were me, i'd stick a screw in it, but that could land you in even worse trouble if the screw breaks before you've screwed it in far enough to slow the leak down.

[jayze]

A big warm thanks to all of you... "warm" being the operative word. I know now how to proceed...re the water running....do you mean the hot water or the cold? Sorry to be such a dumbo...and thanks again everyone ..(including the moderators who for once didnt chuck me in the brigg lol):P

[The Real Dave]

Oh I feel your pain, my hot tank has been leaking. I wouldn't mind, but it's my second time replacing the thing. Tried these cool polymer materials to seal it, designed for the job apparently, and yet they just don't seem to cut it. Its a substance similar to PolyFilla.

I'll just have wait for my copper rods to deliver so I can weld the damn thing :(

Best of luck with your boiler :)

[jayze]

Hmmmm ( who needs blusher when your cheeks are pink from 27degrees C)! Well you did tell me to keep the heat up...currently thinking about getting out of the eskimo gear and into a bikini....all this ubuntu forum needs now is a "community caff rescue center"...and praps we could raise funds for a chopper like the air ambulance do. Now theres a thought!:P