When your boiler is leaking water, your wallet is leaking money. Obviously, you’ll need to address the problem that’s causing the leak.
Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll look at some of the immediate steps you can take to protect your property from water damage. After that, we’ll take a look at some of the reasons why your boiler might be leaking water, and what you can do about it.
How to prevent water damage
For small leaks, you can prevent water damage rather easily. Just take some type of large container – an old bucket will do – and put it under the leak. For larger leaks, you may need to turn off your boiler (disconnect it from its power supply) and cut off the water supply. Obviously, in the dead of winter in Winnipeg, you can’t leave your boiler off for too long, so you’ll need to call for repairs immediately.
Now, you might not always be able to identify the source of the leak right away – you may find, for example, that it’s located underneath your boiler. Use your ears to try and hear where the droplets of water are coming from.
Never try to fix a leak yourself
With the exception of steps you can take to reduce boiler pressure (we’ll look at those next), you should never try to fix a boiler leak yourself. Boilers have a lot more safety features than they used to, but if you don’t know what you’re doing you can turn a water leak into a gas leak. Call us for boiler service in Winnipeg when you’ve got a water leak.
The most common causes of boiler leakage
Corrosion is the leading cause of leaks in older models. This corrosion can occur in the pipes or in the boiler tank itself – either way, it’s going to lead to leaks. Corrosion can’t really be repaired, so the pipes or even the whole boiler will have to be replaced.
Poor installation is another common cause – fortunately, this one is much easier for a professional to fix. If you have a relatively new boiler that’s leaking, poor installation is almost always the cause – call the company who installed your boiler. If it was their fault, they’ll (hopefully) fix it for free.
Warped, damaged, or broken seals are a less common cause of leaks, but they’re fixable – your technician will simply have to install new seals. These problems typically occur near the pump.
Too much pressure can also cause your boiler to leak. This is a problem you may be able to fix yourself by bleeding your radiators. If you see that your radiators’ pressure is particularly high, try this before calling the pros – it may fix the leak.
If you still have any questions at all about boilers, why they leak, or what you can do to address a leak, give us a call!