Boiler Advice

immy

Needing some advice,

our house was built in 1999, and the boiler (Ideal Classic LXRS RS250) came with the house. Generally the boiler has been trouble free since we purchased the house 8 yrs ago.

Recently we are having issues with the central heating pump (noisy and spluttering on startup) and in general the boiler taking longer to heat the house.
Things came to a head over last few days when water wasn't heating up.....divertor valve was making alot of vibration and getting hot to touch. heating Engineer from BG Managed to sort out the blockage and giving us back hot water ( he cleared a blocked pipe apparantly)...and then recommended power flush or replacing with a combi boiler due to boiler age and lack of parts. Powerflush cost was £800-900 estimate....

Got another engineer out (from sse) for a 2nd opinion,

The engineer (from SSE) has recommended powerflushing the system as it is heavily sludged at cost of £500 (13 radiators + 2 towel rails). He showed me some dirty water taken out of the pump valve.

I am thinking a new boiler is excessive cost since the current boiler is running fine (apart from pump n divertor) but i dont want to waste money on a powerflush if its just delaying the inevitable of having to replace the boiler and associated bits.

Anyone offer some advice on powerflushing or if new boiler is way to go?

If powerflushing, then a reputable company in lanarkshire/glasgow area?

Gizmo247

Replacing a boiler is often not a money saving endeavour. By the sounds of it, you have air leaking into the heating system (characterised by dirty radiator water) and water probably leaking out. This could be via pin holes in the radiator or most often corroded pipes going through concrete floors. Power flushing can often make this worst due to its hash nature but you may have no alternative.

You need to spend your time and money fixing the air leak as this would have to be done anyway for a pressurised combi boiler to be viable.

You can test the extent of the leak by taping a small sandwich box below the inlet of the smallest tank in the loft and see if it fills up over time.

Finding the leak is often much harder and will probably require a professional. Once that is sorted and power flushed then you can access the viability of the boiler.

Eric_Disley

I'm no expert so can't advise on the problem. However, many people have posted on here about energy companies recommending power flushes when they weren't warranted.

I'd suggest getting a local CORGI engineer to look at the problem, they may have a different (and much cheaper) opinion.