Luke warm water from Combiboiler

[CompleteNewcomer]

I have a FIME Friendly Format 80E combi-boiler.

The water temp changes from warm/hot to luke warm.

The engineer from British has tells me that it is due to sludge in the central heating system and that I need to change the Heat Exchanger in the boiler. That will cost me £277 in addition to the 3 Star Homecare agreement I have.

Appreciate any answer.

Cheers

 

[Tibbot]

Appreciate any answer.

Answer to what?

 

[slimlee]

if the hot water is going hot cold hot cold and the boiler is shutting down then firing up then shutting down,then its a sure sign your heat exchanger is blocked. If they replace this without fitting a heating filter then it will just happen again, so unfortunately i think the filter is a good idea.

 

[slimlee]

sorry i'm assuming he's offering a filter included in that price

 

[petit_pablo]

Have BG previously told you thatyou had sludge problems?

If not, tell BG they sould be sonic cleaning it and recommending improvements not forcing your hand.

 

[CompleteNewcomer]

No, the BG has never told me anything abt the sludge.

No filter is included in the price. The price of filters (apparently two of them) is close to £500... not sure if VAT is included.


The boiler doesn't shut down when the water goes luke warm. The water doesn't go cold.

 

[petit_pablo]

In which case BG must fix the fault in the first instance and advise you further trouble caused by sludge may be chargeable.

Check your terms and conditions. Its written in there.

 

[CompleteNewcomer]

The fact that I was never informed about the sludge problem previously, I will ask them to do a Sonic cleaning... not sure what it means.

Could you plkease elaborate, or point me to some website?

How can I avoid this problem in the future?

I rented this apartment out when I was made redundant, and I work as an English teacher in Asia. That's why I took out the BG homecare for landlords.

Thanks again

 

[gavinda]

get bg to carry out sonic clean under your contract. then ask them to quote for a magnabooster to protect your system.

remember that when you are renting that if the boiler breaks down your tenants may be able to not pay rent for the peroid that the boiler is faulty.

 

[CompleteNewcomer]

British Gas has offered the following:

Change the heat exchanger and fit a Hydroflow for £150 all inclusive.

The quote for a Magnaboaster is £250 incl

The Hydroflow is suppose to protect me for any scale and Magnaboaster for Sludge.

 

[gavinda]

thats kind of ok, that heat exchanger should be done for free.

however

if you have no scale protection i would strongly recommend the hydroflow. i live in a ard water area also and have one on my combi. the magnabooster should also be fitted if you have any sort of sludge problems. you may find the engineers/bg will put a restriction on any further water based repairs due to sludge in the system and a magnabooster will help you avoid getting into that situation.

heat exchanger still as a freebie though .

 

[dcawkwell]

I would have said hot water thermistor was much more likely cause.
All of £10 for part.

 

[petit_pablo]

I would have said hot water thermistor was much more likely cause.
All of £10 for part.

Doubt it

 

[YELLERBELLY]

I would have said hot water thermistor was much more likely cause.
All of £10 for part.

Defo not the cause,dirt in the plate heat exchanger fails to transfer heat so the dhw thermistor is calling for heat continuously but the primary thermistor is kicking in,shutting the boiler down due to poor heat transfer.

Hope that makes sense(i've had a few)

 

[slimlee]

the hydrow flow is £150 on its own so they are doing the heat exchanger for free. If you dont buy both i would personally go for the magnabooster as it sounds more like a sludge problem than a scale problem,you should be able to tell this when the heat exchanger is out.