Heavy Pressure: Heavy boiler pressure may cause a leakage as your gas boiler tries to release excessive pressure. The good news is that you can drain water from the radiators to restore normal pressure. 

High temperature: This can cause your boiler’s temperature valve to leak water. This is a safety precaution to avoid overheating. If your boiler temperature is too high, it’s best to call a heating specialist to inspect it.

Corrosion: Your gas boiler’s tank and connecting pipes may corrode over time, which may cause damage to your boiler . Small scale corrosion can be fixed by replacing a few parts. However, if a large part of your boiler is corroded, you may need to replace your boiler.

Leaky pump: If the water pump is leaking, it may need to be re-sealed or replaced by a plumbing specialist.

Low Water Pressure: If your boiler pressure is lower than the ideal level, your boiler may make unusual sounds. Check pressure gauge if your boiler is operating at the right pressure. If not, you can re-pressurise your boiler using a filling key or a filling hose.

Faulty pump: If the boiler’s pump is faulty, it should be resealed or replaced by a registered Gas Safe engineer.

Air: If there’s air in the central heating system, it may cause your boiler to become noisy. Try draining the radiators to see if the issues resolve itself. 

Limescale or sludge: Limescale and sludge can build up in your radiators over time, which could be a reason for your overheating or noisy boiler.  We recommend getting a heating expert to flush your system. A clogged-up heating system is likely to increase the pressure in your system causing your boiler to breakdown and leave you without heating or hot water – as well as higher repair and energy bills.

Why is boiler pressure important?

As your boiler heats cold water, the water expands in pipes and radiators throughout your home. Therefore you may notice a difference in your boiler pressure when the heating is on versus when it is off. Unbalanced water to air ratio can cause the system becoming over pressurised and possibly result in a breakdown.

High boiler pressure is inefficient but rarely dangerous, as most modern boilers have a safety feature known as the ‘pressure relief valve’ that shuts down the boiler when pressure is too high to prevent further pressure from building up. However, if the pressure relief valve itself is faulty or broken then we’d strongly recommend you call a Gas Specialist.