SENTINEL X400

[davemac1]

Hi all.
My boiler has been making a racket for nearly two years now.About a month after it started i drained and refilled the system with X200.The drained water was pretty clear.The performance was minimal.After about 6 months i drained the system again an put in some x400.Voila.The noise nearly stopped,so i left it in until last october as i was due to have some work done on the system anyway as circulation was poor(convert to 2 pipe system& some new rads added).The plumbers who did the work gave the system a power flush after work was completed and added a normal inhibitor.No noise for about 3 weeks and then it started again.The system is working absolutely fine.It's just the bloody banging is driving me nuts.I know its probably a large deposit of limescale on the heat Ex plates.
My question is (finally) is it ok to put in some more X400 and just leave it in there forever more? It's the only thing that seems to work? Don't think it's acidic?
Thanks for your time.
Dave

 

[JohnD]

I think you ought to read the Sentinel instructions until you understand how each is supposed to be used, and what it does.

http://www.sentinel-solutions.net/product/listing/central-heating/liquids/

If you post again, say what the boiler is, and what you see when you look in the F&E tank.

 

[davemac1]

I think you ought to read the Sentinel instructions until you understand how each is supposed to be used, and what it does.

http://www.sentinel-solutions.net/product/listing/central-heating/liquids/

If you post again, say what the boiler is, and what you see when you look in the F&E tank.

Hi.
It's an Ideal classic FF360.
The f&E tank contains clean water with a very small amount of sediment at the bottom.

 

[JohnD]

1) X400 loosens sludge and sediment. If you don't drain it out after two months, it loses its detergent power and the sediment settles down again.

2) X200 reduces limescale noise. You put it in after you have otherwise cleaned the system, and leave it in

3) X100 is the corrosion inhibitor. You put it in and leave it in. If there is any leakage, top-up or pumping over, it will be diluted, washed out, or used up, so you have to fix the cause and do it again.

4) if you have an old iron boiler, then you are likely to have corrosion deposits inside the exchanger that are very difficult to get out and need an aggressive cleaner. These are mostly acidic and eat through other things as well as the corrosion.

5) if you have any particles circulating in the water, it is worth adding a Magnaclean (if black particles) or a Spirovent or similar (if anything else) to trap them and prevent them accumulating. Particles will be loosened by X400. There are some other second-generation cleaning devices that are very good, but I have not used them. The Magnaclean is extremely good at catching black oxide from the water, but it is an early design and tends to leak. I am a householder not a pro.

 

[D_Hailsham]

1) X400 loosens sludge and sediment. If you don't drain it out after two months, it loses its detergent power and the sediment settles down again.

Where did you get that information from?

 

[commercialman]

Empty half a bottle of fairy liquid into the system water , 'kettling' noise will be eliminated after a couple of hours run time.

This was the 'norm' years ago when dealing with scale deposit build up in cast iron heat exchangers , came straight from the horses mouth. (boiler manufactures)

In most cases it's the annoying 'poping/banging' the customer is aware of as opposed to effeciency #s , seems most 'inhibitors' these days are not up to the task..................still get called out to service an Ideal CX 120 , this system was 'dosed' over 12 years ago & still as quite as a mouse along with many others.

Many litres of detergents were funneled through commercial dosing pots.

I realise there will be mixed reviews regards detergents being harmful to system components , then again it would depend on the dosage , personally i've never encounted any issues , it works!............am fully aware of the 'foaming' issue too.

Do some of you still use the 'pink' inhibitor................

 

[MickyP10]

Interesting. I eagerly await the replies...

 

[commercialman]

Interesting. I eagerly await the replies...

I can guess the replies if any at all.

 

[davemac1]

Empty half a bottle of fairy liquid into the system water , 'kettling' noise will be eliminated after a couple of hours run time.

This was the 'norm' years ago when dealing with scale deposit build up in cast iron heat exchangers , came straight from the horses mouth. (boiler manufactures)

In most cases it's the annoying 'poping/banging' the customer is aware of as opposed to effeciency #s , seems most 'inhibitors' these days are not up to the task..................still get called out to service an Ideal CX 120 , this system was 'dosed' over 12 years ago & still as quite as a mouse along with many others.

Many litres of detergents were funneled through commercial dosing pots.

I realise there will be mixed reviews regards detergents being harmful to system components , then again it would depend on the dosage , personally i've never encounted any issues , it works!............am fully aware of the 'foaming' issue too.

Do some of you still use the 'pink' inhibitor................

Someone else told me about this old practice.
What's the worst that can happen??

 

[commercialman]

Someone else told me about this old practice.
What's the worst that can happen??

Some will say detergent is corrosive & can eat away system componants , while others will say scale formation will build due the high PH value , while others don't know of any ill effects & will go along for the ride.

Washing up liquid has a PH value of around 8.5/9 , corrosion/scale in a central heating system can accelerate either side of 7 (neutral) , adding .5 litres of washing up liquid to a system that contains roughly 120 litres of water is negligible.

Cam sometimes help if system water has been filled using softened water (raises the PH) , bicarbonate of soda can also raise the PH.

Whether you use washing-up liquid or not is entirely up to you.

 

[Agile]

I have just looked at the Agile kitchen and see the ASDA washing up liquid does not list anything which would seem to me to be dangerous to a heating system.

But it only vaguely mentions 15-30% of the content.

In fact I dont believe the contents as obviously 90% of the makeup is water which is not mentioned although perhaps they just dont want customers to know they are mostly buying water!