corrosion inhibitor

ran123ran_2

Oct-10 had central heating system (all new pipes, radiators, boiler) - corrosive inhibitor was added.

Dec-10 one of the radiators and pipes burst over the cold winter and the system drained. BG came and fixed the leak, ordered a new radiator to be fitted the following week. When the BG man came to fit the radiator I asked him if he added corrosive inhibitor last week - he said no and that he'd add it on this visit. Before he left, i asked if he had added it, he advised he had. When i went to the room that had the radiatir replaced, there was radiatir packaging and other bits of tape and pipes pieces but no container for the corrosive inhibitor....which made me think he didn't put any in?

Jan-11 pipes burst again and system drained, BG came out again to repair. I asked them about corrosive inhibitor, they said that their system is showing it was put in Dec-10. Eventhough the system drained there would still be some of this stuff sitting in radiators n pipes through the house. They did not want to put more in as having too much in can do damage to the system. His manager was there aswell when this conversation took place.

Feb-11 one of the radiators were leaking from the top - but the water dripping was clear. I had a leaking radiator in hallway in Nov-10 but the water then was brown tinged.

Is the water coming out clear now due to no/not enough corrosive inhibitor?

The system we have now is a sealed system - would that deter someone from wanting to add corrosive inhibitor?
Am I right in thinking that the only way of adding it in sealed system is to remove a radiator and pour it in there?

I was told in a previous post that you can buy a test kit to check if corrosive inhibitor in - how much does this cost and what is it called?

If the water is coming out clear due to lack of corrosive inhibitor, can I insist on BG coming back to add it in?

gas4you

Just add a litre of X100. You can't overdose the system

ran123ran_2

gas4you wrote: »

Just add a litre of X100. You can't overdose the system

So BG engineer and his manager have been making excuses to avoid adding it in?

devildog

Water coming out clear is good, water coming out tinged brown/orange is bad(indicates corrosion/rust)!

gas4you

ran123ran wrote: »

So BG engineer and his manager have been making excuses to avoid adding it in?

Yes. As said you cannot overdose a system

fred7777

Are you on some sort of deal where you pay BG a fixed fee and they "fix" your heating? If so then call be a cynic but if you pay BG to begin with and any work they do or materials they use reduce their profit margin it's quite possible they lied as the inhibitor would have cost them.

There is no way the drained down system would have enough inhibitor in it to not need replacement.

The last inhibitor I used was clear so you can't rely on water colour to tell you if it's there. One easy way though is to take a sample from the system and put a shiny penny into it. Put another shiny penny into a sample of tap water, leave for a few days and compare.

Lastly there are many different easy ways of adding inhibitor, this youtube video illustrates some of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDsSnAG-lpA