Heat exchanger issue on a year old boiler

Cottage_Economy

Myser wrote: »

Whenever the system was filled, inhibitor should have been added. This prevents/slows down the process of the radiators corroding from inside.

If you have since topped up the system a few times without replacing the inhibitor, the concentration will be reduced.

I have topped up the system once in the last 12 months and that was a few days ago. I noticed the pressure was at 1.1 whereas last year when fitted it was operating at 1.5 so I topped it up to get it back to 1.5.

The paperwork does say inhibitor was used but as Happy pointed out, being on the paperwork is one thing, it actually being done is another.

southcoastrgi

check out 5.5 in your MI, link here if you don't have it
do you have hard water & a scale inhibitor fitted, sounds like a plate hex prob to me

Cottage_Economy

Thanks South Coast. I don't believe one of those is fitted yet.

Using the manual to help my research it looks like the cost of the exchanger is around £125 incl VAT, which is doable for us. Plus the additional cost of a scale reducer etc if one is not already fitted.

I just have to get an idea of the time it would take so I won't keel over in shock or say something unladylike when the moment arrives for him to present his quote. Or perhaps I shouldn't be such a defeatist and say if the moment arrives, on the basis it could be something smaller and simpler than the heat exchanger.

However knowing my luck and how the renovation of this money pit has gone so far, I'm doomed already

southcoastrgi

if the boiler is a year old why are you not getting gw to sort this under warentee, or if you are in a hard water area your installer for not fitting a scale inhibitor as req by the MI, i wouldn't be paying out for anything in your position

keystone

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

Using the manual to help my research it looks like the cost of the exchanger is around £125 incl VAT, which is doable for us.

Why should it have to be doable for you if it's under warranty?

Cheers

keystone

Snap! Ha Ha.

Cheers

Cottage_Economy

The warranty covers defective parts.

If the flush was done, if the inhibitor was used and if the heat exchanger is bunged up with crap from degrading radiator interiors a year later then it won't be covered because there is nothing wrong with the heat exchanger. It's my system. Therefore the heat exchanger will not be defective, the firm is not culpable and neither is the installer. I pay.

However regarding the scale reducer, it isn't in the itemised breakdown of works completed however I don't know for sure that one wasn't fitted. If it transpires that part of the proper installation and a condition of the warranty was fitting a scale reducer and reducing the temperature settings and it wasn't done (my water would need to have 200mg/l or more of calcium carbonate to be classed as hard and require a scale reducer according to the manual), and that scale has caused the problem then yes, I will be arguing and not paying anything to have the problem fixed. They pay.

I'll ring the installer today and possibly Glo-worm depending on the response and come back later with more information if there is. If there is none, I'll update when the boiler has been looked at.

By the way, you ought to know that this house has been botched by a butch of idiot former owners whose idea of clearing a blockage or cleaning something was to throw brick acid at it. I have no idea what they've done to the interiors of the radiators over the years, but I know from next door neighbours they did everything themselves, including fitting the boiler and the radiators. They would never get anyone in to do anything, and often what they fitted was second hand to start with including wiring. They were 'odd job' people and often brought home what they had removed from other people's houses. Their standard of workmanship was very poor and often sheer stupidity was employed in an effort to be cheap.

It wouldn't surprise me if they chucked brick acid into the system to do their own 'flush'. They certainly chucked it everywhere else.

southcoastrgi

you are blaming your existing heating system far too much, you either live in a hard water area or you don't
new boiler = your heating should have been flushed & inhibitor added if it wasn't installer fault
hard water area = scale inhibitor fitted if it wasn't installer fault
both of the above done = glowworm problem

your problem is someones fault & it's not yours or your rads

a flush should have cleaned the heating system inc the rads & adding inhibitor would prevent the rads from rusting any further & sludge being produced

gas4you

Does the heating work ok?