Why is my boiler water pressure low?

Boiler Water Pressure Low? Low Water Pressure Troubleshooting And Understanding What It Is!

 

My boiler keeps losing water pressure – is there a leak?

One of the questions we get asked most frequently is, “If my water pressure keeps dropping, does that mean there’s a leak ?”. The truth is, there are a number of factors affecting why your boiler pressure may be dropping, but if you have a newly installed boiler the most common reason is very straightforward.

Upon installing a new boiler, the central heating system is drained down, this leaves many spaces that fill with air that when filling back up may have air locks. The engineer when installing will always make sure that at the time of the installation, the boiler is pressurised and as much air is taken out of the system as possible by bleeding the radiators. Air locks could make their way out of your system at any time. This makes troubleshooting a little bit more difficult.

Does Repeatedly bleeding your radiators cause a drop in boiler pressure?

Yes!

This is caused by air making its way out of the pipes and rising up to the top of a radiator. This is because air rises. After an installation air could continue to make its way out of your system and into your radiators, this is because the flow of your heating system could dislodge an airlock at any point. Bleeding the air out of the radiator will restore the heating back to full efficiency. However, bleeding the radiators also means that you are releasing pressure out of your system, so always make sure that after bleeding your radiators, you refill your system, otherwise your pressure could have fallen to low.

How to check the water pressure on an ideal boiler

If you have the ideal Logic + or the ideal Vogue then you will see your pressure gauge right on the front of the user interface. It is the most left dial on the front of the Logic +boiler, and the small circular dial on the far right of the ideal Vogue. This is so you don’t overpressure your boiler, and allow for expansion. If you would like to know about what happens if you overpressure your boiler, there is a separate learning material to help you with this if you wish to know. But for now, lets continue. If after bleeding your radiators you find your pressure has dropped too low, then you will need to “top” the pressure up using the dials underneath boiler. This is the part most people worry with in fear that they turn the wrong dial and destroy the boiler! Rest assured that turning the wrong dial will not blow up your boiler!

Water Filling Loops

As you can see in the images below, the two circled handles are the ones you need to turn. They are easily distinguishable as they are the only blue handles on the underside of the boiler.

They need to be turned at the same time in order to fill the system back up. As you open them both up you will start to hear the water enter the system. Keep an eye on the pressure gauge as you are filling the system. When you can see that the pressure has reached 1.5 bar, close both handles, other wise you may turn of the water supply to your hot water. If after filling your pressure you find no water coming out of your taps.

You have most likely not turned both handles back to their original position.

This simple trouble shooting exercise usually means you solve the question of why is my boiler pressure so low. However, if the problem persists you may need an engineer to look at your system.

We hope after reading this you have a better understanding of why you may have low water pressure and how to refill your system.

Customer care is one of Big Boiler Shops most key customer satisfaction points. Do not hesitate to contact us should you require further assistance or have any questions regarding your low water pressure on your boiler or to arrange for one of our engineers to help you with your problem.

If you feel you are ready for a boiler service then book one today right here . Our service pack is second to none and industry leading.

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We are making boiler installation easy. We love helping people so please do get in touch, our team are only too happy to help!

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