Help! DS40 has turned my HW green or brown!

Joined
7 Mar 2011
Messages
43
Reaction score
1
Location
Tyne and Wear
Country
United Kingdom
So the system is a Potterton Profile 80e and its over heat cut out was tripping daily. Its never had anti corrosion stuff in it so based on advice from this forum decided to work through the potential causes in the following order:

1) drain system
2) replace pump
3) put in some DS40
4) refill
5) run for a week
6) drain and use neutraliser / reflush etc
7) put in water treatment
8) if problem persists replace over heat and or boiler temp sensor

During the fill with DS40 stage i mixed DS40 with 1/2 gallon of warm water in a bucket and poured it carefully using a spout into the feed pipe in the FE tank (which was empty). There was some DS40 not properly dissolved into the water and I shook it out but some missed the spout and landed in the base of the FE tank then probably roused some of the sludge which lies there - silly error!

Turned back the cold on again to fill the heating system and then bled the rads - so far so good. There was lots of serious gurgling in the heating system (which not seen on other previous occasions when its been refilled when rads were added a few years ago) for the next day and so far the overheat has not tripped again.

However, all the hot taps give green / brown water! Cold is fine. I thought that the FE tank only feeds the heating circuit so why is the HW a funny colour?
 
Sponsored Links
Running a system with ds40 in it for a week?

I'm surprised you still have a system left ffs!
 
Sponsored Links
err whats primatic? does that mean that the HW is actually sharing the same system as the heating rather have a coil inside through which the heating system flows to impart its heat to a separate HW water circuit and therefore the green / brown is sludge dredged up by the DS40 which has now entered the HW system too?
 
But a Primatic cylinder would not normally have an F&E tank.

Sounds like a fault in the cylinder and probably caused by the uncontrolled DS40 eating its way through the coil.

Tony
 
Last edited:
Primatic: something similar to what you describe... how many tanks in the loft do you have?

originally there was two - one was about 3 foot cube mounted directly above the hot water tank and fed directly into the copper HW cylinder. it started to leak so a year ago so it was replaced by a new plastic tank in the loft. this new tank resulted in a higher HW pressure which i assumed was due to a greater head. the other tank which has been there for decades empties when i drain the HW system. i assumed that this one was only for the central heating
 
But a Primatic cylinder would not normally have an F&E tank.

Sounds like a fault in the cylinder and probably caused the uncontrolled DS40 eating its way through the coil.

Tony
that sounds expensive!
the cylinder is very old and was originally an electric one converted when the central heating was installed.

if the DS40 has done that then presumably the problem was looming anyway?
 
[this new tank resulted in a higher HW pressure which i assumed was due to a greater head. the other tank which has been there for decades empties when i drain the HW system. i assumed that this one was only for the central heating

Do you really mean that?
 
Last edited:
[this new tank resulted in a higher HW pressure which i assumed was due to a greater head. the other tank which has been there for decades empties when i drain the HW system. i assumed that this one was only for the central heating

Do0 you really mean that?

what do mean?

the system has a 3 way valve so i assume form other pots that rules out a primatic system?
 
[this new tank resulted in a higher HW pressure which i assumed was due to a greater head. the other tank which has been there for decades empties when i drain the HW system. i assumed that this one was only for the central heating

Do0 you really mean that?

i thought that since the early setup which had the 3 foot cube directly on top of the cylinder would result in a (HW) head of water equal to the height of the top of that 3 foot tank whereas the new plastic tank, being higher, would have given the greater head and thus higher hot water pressure. (all the above on the assumption that the plastic tank dos indeed feed the cylinder)
 
[this new tank resulted in a higher HW pressure which i assumed was due to a greater head. the other tank which has been there for decades empties when i drain the HW system. i assumed that this one was only for the central heating

Do0 you really mean that?
ah - i see what you mean! should have said "when i drain the central heating NOT drain the HW system" - sorry!

so your view then is that the coil in the cylinder has leaked and let the DS40 into the hot water. if thats the case does it also explain the huge amount of gurgling too?
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top