Glow Worm heat exchanger

[imtaylor]

I have a tenanted property which has an old Glow Worm back boiler. The heat exchanger is completely clogged up and I don't want to spend the fortune to have the whole boiler replaced.

I've tried to find somewhere that will recondition it but it seems that because its (possibly) cast iron, that is a problem? My questions are

1. I've read a couple of other threads on here about cleaning cast iron heat exchangers. Is this done just simply with a bucket of water and a wire brush?
2. should any chemicals be used to clean it? - A strong alcohol mix has been suggested?
3. Is there anywhere that I can have it sent to be cleaned / reconditioned?
4. Is it possible to have a new HE manufactured to modern standards?

thanks.

 

[Agile]

This is an old and inefficient boiler.

I presume that you are a very mean landlord?

Presumably your tenants are asylum seekers or other similar class who dont have any option to mave to a propertryt where the landlords cares for them and installs the latest condensing boiler and saves them 40% on their gas bill.

Do you have a gas safety certificate?

 

[imtaylor]

LOL!! No, I'm not a very mean landlord at all! Just a very careful (and unfortunately poor) one who doesn't spend money where it doesn't need to be spent!

I can assure you I'd be very broke very quickly if my priority was to "save all my tenants 40% on their gas bills" by installing the latest condensing combi boiler in all my properties!

Yes I have a gas cert.

 

[simond]

This is rather a worrying post, for a number of reasons.

1. Getting a heat exchanger out of your old back boiler with the intention of putting the same one back would be a miserable, long, emotional job. Especially as it is junk now, Glowworm haven't made back boilers for years.

2. If it is sludged up, the sludge would have come from elsewhere, so even when cleaned the problem would quickly reappear.

3. You can't get anywhere near the thing without dismantling safety critical parts. As a Landlord who is presumably not Gas Safe registered, you can't do this yourself.

4. If you know someone who is prepared to take the thing out who is Gas Safe registered, then they should be able to answer the question you've posted.
If they are honest they will question your sanity.

I have in a previous life, owned a large number of rented properties and we replaced the boilers for new ones when necessary. Certainly wouldn't entertain changing a heat exchanger in something over 10 years old.

 

[misterdubya]

Getting a heat exchanger out of your old back boiler with the intention of putting the same one back would be a miserable, long, emotional job.

That sums up the job perfectly! That job really is the pits - even if it just needs a gasket. Still do Baxi BBU's though - different ball game.

Mr. W.

 

[45yearsagasman]

I'll do it for £1500 up front and no guarantee.
Just seen where you are.......+ hotel and travel expenses.

 

[imtaylor]

Just to clarify these points.

1. i wasn't intending to do it myself, I have a Gas Safe engineer who would do it.
2. He actually suggested that i might be able to find a replacement first of all and when i was trying to find a replacement, at least three suppliers suggested that it could be cleaned - hence, the post.
3. I also own a large number of properties and if there is no other option, will replace an old boiler for new - as you say, when necessary. if I was replacing all boiler that i had which were more than 10 years old, I'd be well into 10's of thousands of pounds.
4. The property is in Shropshire.
5. The property is going on the market to sell in the next couple of months.

thanks.

 

[simond]

I'd be well into 10's of thousands of pounds.

I think we can all imagine the palatial delights of your property empire. Must go, the sawdust needs replacing in my lounge.

And no one is minding the shop.

 

[Agile]

If you have so many properties being rented out then you must be a very wealthy person.

If you intend to sell the property then a new boiler will be aprime selling feature in an otherwise totally flat market.

A new boiler for £2200 will enhance the selling price by well over the cost of fitting it and ensure an early sale as well.

If you really are so poor then I could purchase the property with the old boiler for £23,000.

The Freshwater twins live as if they are very poor too!

 

[imtaylor]

If you have so many properties being rented out then you must be a very wealthy person.

If you intend to sell the property then a new boiler will be aprime selling feature in an otherwise totally flat market.

A new boiler for £2200 will enhance the selling price by well over the cost of fitting it and ensure an early sale as well.

If you really are so poor then I could purchase the property with the old boiler for £23,000.

The Freshwater twins live as if they are very poor too!

I think that demonstrates a total lack of understanding of what being a landlord is like and I can assure you I am not wealthy at all. A new boiler is not a selling point and it certainly wouldn't add "value" to the property. Thanks for your input anyway.

 

[JRS]

I presume from the posts that this guy got in asking genuine question, that you are all gas safe engineers with no work.

As a Corgi engineer, now Gas Safe the guy is right to explore the possibilities, and well you know it. The BBU's are a pain to take out because its not a straight boiler exchange, even though Baxi do a condensing back boiler unit.

In the older 45/2 and similar being flued in the fireplace it means all the pipework is chopped out, as well as the header tanks and the emersion, so a really crap job, and as far as efficiency goes, you and I both know thats ******. How many of you fit TRV's on all radiators?

Yet you know, or should know that a gas condensing boiler SHOULD NOT HAVE TRV'S really as is detracts from the wonderful figures of how efficient it is, and with TRV's the efficiency drops because of the cycling, rendering it no more efficient than a lot of old boilers, and where then if you take into considering the environmental impact of creating a new boiler, the energy used, and the then notional savings its environmentally inefficient. Condensing boilers are designed to condense being more efficient at lower temperatures, but with on-off controls including TRV's a condensing boiler is only marginally more efficient than a non condensing boiler and sometimes less, depending on the system, and the nett costs in terms of building a replacement and replacement costs.

So some of you should really think when questioning that guys motives, and look more at your own commercial motives.

How many of you even know about optimum efficiency of condensing boilers, or about the potential problems that TRV's cause in the efficiency of a condensing boiler, and how many of you ever fit automatic bypass when they are used? Or how many of you fit water softeners if the boiler specs demand it?

Look at yourselves as 'experts' before you condemn a potential customer.

I've seen similar misguided comments to others with Johnson & Starley Warm Air units, and even customers being told they are irrepairable and inefficient, just to get a job installing a new ch unlikely to be as efficient at that particular system they are replacing taking everything into consideration.

The same misguided idiots created the HIP and the EPC, where I've physically had to explain to these 'experts' that mark down warm air units, suggesting the owner could save this that or the other by spending £3,000 on a new gas condensing boiler, when the existing is very efficient.

Some of you seem to do install by numbers, rather than looking at what the customer is asking, and then judging it on its merits, by inspection.

 

[bengasman]

The combination of being poor, and the statement including " all my properties" leads to the conclusion that you can't be that poor.

It sounds more like the typical kind of LL that doesn't care about anything other than making money. ( unless you want to add: not getting caught )

 

[gazdaz36]

Obviously JRS has never heard of this amazing invention called a modulating boiler

 

[bengasman]

Obviously JRS has never heard of this amazing invention called a modulating boiler

Of course not. As it is only the tenant paying twice as much for the gas as need be, and only the same tenant at risk of CO poisoning, he has not looked into the subject since these old lumps were installed some thirty years ago.
Saving money is the name of the game, so cheap boilers, the cheapest lgsc possible, and only a service or repair if it really can't be avoided; tenants are there to provide dosh, nothing else.

 

[simond]

Look at yourselves as 'experts' before you condemn a potential customer

He isn't a potential customer, he is a **************Landlord.

Some of you seem to do install by numbers, rather than looking at what the customer is asking, and then judging it on its merits, by inspection

It is not clear from your ************where you stand on the original question.

Would you replace this fellow's heat exchanger in an obsolete back boiler?

Actually, I don't care, but I thought I'd like to point out that you avoided the question completely. Especially since you claim to be someone who claims to listen before talking.