Oh Joy! Leaking CH - what's this bit?
Discussion
Anyone any idea what this bit is? I'm guessing some sort of bleed attachment as it's at the high point of the system. The red and black dust caps cover what look like tyre valves, and the red one has leaked all over our freshly decorated bedroom 
, but I believe they're pressure relief valves.They are automatic air vents. They are a lazy way of venting that loop. Manual vents would be fine if the system is correctly plumbed. However...yours was done by someone who thinks plastic plumbing is acceptable... Tighten the caps down and make them manual. They ALWAYS leak.
Edited by Ferg on Wednesday 9th January 19:23
It has holes so it can vent and a cone shape underneath to form a seal if needed.The float inside is attached to the schrader valve. The problem is that even the cleanest systems get a bit of muck under that valve seat. A couple of Drain-off Cocks would be better. Once vented, the pump will shunt any small amounts of air. They do save you climbing in the loft to manually vent n the odd occasion that you may drain the system down, but they really aren't worth the grief.
I went on a plumbing course at a college and the tutor was an experienced old timer. His view was that plastic plumbing often failed because people didnt follow the isntructons when fitting it and the materials have come on a lot since the old days - hehad no problem in recommending them - mainly becaus einstallation is a lot easier as you cn feed pipes through awkward bits as pposed to having to join copper tubes.
Bill said:
Ferg said:
yours was done by someone who thinks plastic plumbing is acceptable...
Talking of which, how s
t is plastic?That plastic is Hep2o by the looks of it. A lot of new fittings, boilers, showers etc... have O rings in them which is the sealing solution of plastic pipe. Showers are now coming out with O rings as sealing solutions.
Many people happily use plastic pipe. I personally will use plastic pipe but only out of sight.
Quite often, new build houses are totally plumbed in plastic. Not something I think is good, but is a common install.
Bottom line is, some hate it, some don't mind it. Ferg hates it.
Most volume new builds use plastic because it is quicker to install and hence cheaper.
In building 700 houses a year over a 6 year period we only has issues with plastic plumbing twice, in both cases it was speedfit joints incorrectly installed and popping off when the pressure was reduced and increased again.
before we used plastic we had more issues with copper pipes. But the main reason we moved to plastic is that they could be threaded through the web of engineered joists more easily.
Plus scroats don't nick plastic from site as much as they nick copper!
In building 700 houses a year over a 6 year period we only has issues with plastic plumbing twice, in both cases it was speedfit joints incorrectly installed and popping off when the pressure was reduced and increased again.
before we used plastic we had more issues with copper pipes. But the main reason we moved to plastic is that they could be threaded through the web of engineered joists more easily.
Plus scroats don't nick plastic from site as much as they nick copper!
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