Do you hear noises such as hisses or whooshes coming out of your central heating system? Does your combined boiler heating system lose pressure every time it turns on? It may be the result of a leak. If you have a leak in your central heating system, it is important to have a professional HVAC company come out and repair it before leaking water does major damage to your heating system and the floor and walls around it. You can save a lot of time and money if you find the leak in the central heating system yourself and point it out to your contractor. To find a leak in your central heating system, follow these steps:

Top off the boiler with water – by filling the boiler with water, you can examine how long it takes for the water to drain. This will make it much easier to find the leak in your central heating system because it will tell you the size of the leak you are dealing with.

Place a sheet of colored paper under the boiler – if any drops appear on the paper, it should make it very easy to find the leak in your central heating system. Follow the wet spots up along the central heating system and see if you can spot where the water is coming from.

Visually inspect all parts of the boiler – check the boiler up and down thoroughly, keeping an eye out for signs of water damage. Start at the boiler and check all of the pipes and fittings, removing any covers if you need to. If you can’t find the leak on the outside, follow the feed pipe (usually the hottest pipe coming from the central heating system) until it enters the boiler. If there are any ‘T’ joints in the pipe, make sure you follow both extensions.

Check the radiators – sometimes central heating system leaks aren’t located in the boiler – they are in the radiator itself. Excessive air can corrode your radiators, leading to pinhole leaks that can be very difficult to detect. If you have a leak

If you’ve looked and looked and you still can’t find the leak in your central heating system, you may not have a leak at all – instead, the pressure drop may be the result of a blockage in one of your pipes. Finding a blockage in your pipe is fairly simple as long as you take the following steps:

Feel along the lengths of the pipes – carefully run your hand up and down the pipes and radiator, looking for a cold spot. Cold spots indicate a blockage in your central heating system (note – be very careful while doing this, as some parts of your pipes may still be very hot. Either wear gloves or hold your hand close to the pipe without actually touching it).

Check the thermo valve pipe – look for a cold spot along the pipe’s thermo valve, which is located along the boiler’s radiator. If the radiator is cool, but the pipe is hot, the blockage is in one of the radiator valves.

If the entire pipe is cold, look for the coldest spot to indicate where the blockage is.

If your heating system is losing pressure, call Cooper Climate Control Heating and Air Conditioning. We can repair the problem fast and get your central heating system up and running again in no time. And remember, if you want to save time and money, try and find the leak or blockage in your central heating system before we get there!