new central heating system has a leak.........

[smitk008]

Good evening

i have had my new ch system working for a couple of days and have noticed water under my new solid wood floor.
leaking through onto the concrete slab from the extension, we are gutted. the system runs off a wood burner into
a gledhill store. I have a feeling that we have cracked a pipe prior to putting the floor down. I say this because the
plumber pressure tested the pipework.
Does anyone have some good advice as to how to fix this? I have seen that we could try a substance like Fernox
but the first radiator in the system would be after the leak and so how would i get it to where the leak is?
As you can tell, I'm a layman when it comes to these issues.
Thanks in advance, Kev

[dhaslam]

It is better to  find the leak and fix it.  Any additive to the water can  cause more problems  in valves and pumps.   If you are not sure where the leak is  you can usually pinpoint it  by listening for a drip in the middle  of the night.       

[stannn]

Surely you should recall your plumber to fix it. Sounds like a slow leak which would not show on a short pressure test but would be more obvious with the system hot. It's likely to be a soldered joint or a brass union.
Stan

[biff]

You need to get your plumber back as soon as possible,especially before the temperature drops or else he will be really busy. It might be something silly simple like a lockshiels dripping down the back of a feed pipe or just a connection not properly tightened up.
                                                         Biff

[smitk008]

thanks for the replies

he's coming back tomorrow and will take a look but the water/damp seeping from under the sub floor is a real worry bearing in mind the floor costs a fortune and has been down literally 2 weeks. It's glued and porter nailed so if it has to come up it'll be a right job. I hope he has a better solution. By the way, it's flexi-pipe so not a solder issue (I don't know whether that's better or worse!)? I had hoped that a liquid weld would solve the issue bit I know I'm kidding myself.

[Terrier]

Don't jump to blame the plumber, it is highly unlikely that if he did a pressure test that any leak would not show up.

It is more likely that the damage was done after the test by other trades, the number of times that the joiner or electrician puts a nail or screw through a pipe, in many cases with a nail or screw through a pipe the leak will not show up right away, but later on after the heat has been put on !

Is the leak in the underfloor heating, or a pipe that passes under the floor, if it is a pipe passing under the floor to another room etc. you may be able to cut off the pipe either end and re-route the pipe.

Terrier.

[Sean]

he's coming back tomorrow

drain the system and turn off the water supply to it

[solar_cambridge]

It's glued and porter nailed so if it has to come up it'll be a right job.

Out of interest, how long were the nails and how close to the surface is the pipe? I've seen a job when the joiners nailed into the floor which happened to have underfloor heating. They had to rip most of the floor up to find where the nail was driven into the pipe.

[Fintray]

Sounds like a job for a thermal imaging camera to pinpoint the leak!