Advice needed -East-West no pressure

[ecogeorge]

Following my inability to keep my mouth shut I have volunteered to look at a East -West 2 panel system that has lost pressure.
System is approx 5 yrs old and has done about 7000 hrs on each panel.
Pressure has slowly disappeared over last 12 months and is actually still running - gauge says zero but needle is flicking.
Installed with 2 pump stations, 19 litre ? expansion vessel and auto air vent on solar coil.
My thoughts were as follows-
1- check pressure in expansion vessel - pre charge if low to 1 bar- if not possible replace.
2-Introduce 40% glcol (navitron already bought) into loop. -up to max 1bar.
3-Check air vent operation.

Controller is a Smart Energy TR 0603 -is this a rebadged Stecca?
Any got a link to instructions to force manual run of East / West pumps to allow circulation of fluid?
Any more advice?

Fitted my own system and re -pressurised large 80 tube system but never worked on an East/West with 2 pumps.
Assume it was installed by Smart Energy looking at the controller badge.
rgds George.

ps No obvious leaks reported.

[micko]

To check the expansion vessel pressure make sure there is no pressure at all in the system otherwise you will get a false reading.

[Richard Owen]

Fill it up to 3 bar and see what blows off.

Only half-joking.

[Iain]

Hi ecogeorge
Would be tempted to charge up and get everything working and holding pressure before trying the glycol. In case you have any small leaks/repairs. If everything ok I think it would be worth draining down to get any bits out/old stuff out and then fill and flush with water again then finally refil with glycol
Iain

[shajazzi]

Hi, I have been out to many of these systems and they mostly have the same faults.
The first thing that you want to do is to isolate the pumps and check to see if the impellers are still attached to the pump shafts. If these are Wilo ST20/6 and are faulty they will cost you around £100 each. You will have a hard job finding another similar to fit in the pumping station trust me we have tried.

Don't be fooled by switching the controller into manual and listening to east and west pumps as they will sound normal.
I have a spare working TR0603 if you find that the controller is faulty, but we usually change them for a TDC3.



shajazzi

[ecogeorge]

Thanks for the info, don't suspect a pump problem. At 10 am today when I had a quick look to see what I was up against the left hand pump was running. A quick scroll through temps showed AFAIK 21c 26c 31c so I assume a differential of approx 5c means all ok?
Only problem is low (no) pressure.
rgds George.

[shajazzi]

OK,
I would suggest then to top up the system (water only at this stage), bleed and run in manual mode and check for leaks.
I would also check the other pump in manual mode.

shajazzi

[Pat_]

check for leaks

Including outside, on the tiles below the panel. The only time I had a leak was from the panel connections when it overheated.