0 Comments | Sunday Telegraph, The; London (UK), Mar 7, 2010
Trouble with the boiler? Rogue traders? Or a tricky do-it- yourself job? Jeff gives on-the-level advice and answers your home maintenance questions
CONDENSATION CONCERN
Q I saw your comments about condensation in the loft space after increasing the insulation thickness. Our problem comes from steam from the central heating header tank in the loft. In this cold weather the central heating is on a lot and I’ve noticed steam coming from this tank, which is insulated with polystyrene but not sealed. Do you have any suggestions for this? How about a cooker hood-type arrangement, piped out through the eaves?
KM, by email
A If you’ve got hot water circulating through the small feed-and- expansion tank (f&e; tank) in your loft, then you have a problem with your central heating system.
You are right in saying it should not be sealed, as it should more correctly be described as a “cistern” than a tank – that is, a vessel open to atmospheric pressure.
But the water in the f&e; tank is only there to top up the system water (the hot water that circulates through the radiators and the heat-exchange coil in the hot-water cylinder) to compensate for losses through evaporation, and it should be cold. The fact that it is warm means that the system water is being pumped up through the expansion pipe
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