Blocked Heat Exchanger

[Fleeting Glimpse]

Hi

I had a new Ariston Combi fitted a few months ago.

A month or so later i added a chrome towel rail from plumbworld that was rather cheap...£45..good value I thought.

On decorating a room and removing a radiator, I noticed that the water was a rusty colour....stange for a brand new system (pipes and radiators also).

I had noticed a buildup of air in the towel rail and thought that maybe it was this corroding? I drained the heating and re filled with two inhibitors added. Still got air in the TR.

I switched the TR off to see if the air went to any of the other radiators and it didn't.

So I assumed it was the towel rail corroding...anyway now it seems the secondary heat exchanger is blocked...anybody think this could be the problem?

 

[Gasguru]

Towell rails are notorious for containing vast amounts of scale/rust especially the cheaper ones.

As a minimum they should be connected up to a hose and all hell beaten out of them with a rubber mallet before they are installed, personally I would chuck it in the skip and spend a lot more.

However if the system wasn't cleaned properly and inhibited then that may have contributed to the blocked heat exchanger.

 

[ChrisR]

The air in the TR doesn't mean that it's (just) the TR corroding. They're often just the first to get air separated from the water, or sucked in, at the boiler.

There's about a 90% chance that the system wasn't clean when the boiler was changed. That sludge collects in boiler heat exchangers.

So the TR is just a passive player in this. See if the inhibitor stops the gas collecting inthe TR.

 

[Fleeting Glimpse]

Hi

No...I drained the system and re filled with 2 inhibitors for good luck.

Still getting air in the towel rail. Not loads of air but every day about 1 or 2 seconds of air before the water. When I turn the towel rail off...I get no air in the radiators.

regarding the blocked heat exchanger (as diagagnosed by the service guy) the system was brand new and flushed with a cleaning chemical then re filled with inhibitor. So the brown rusty water was a suprise a few months later. When I drained it the first time, could the crap of been dragged down through the boiler and blocked it?

Anyway, I have ordered a better quality rail and going to flush the system out again. Then the Ariston guy says he will come back to look at the heat exchanger.

 

[ChrisR]

SOmething isn't as it appears so far. The TR is made of the same stuff as the rads, and I can't see it corroding to block a hex all by itself!

 

[Agile]

Whilst the towel rail will not have helped it sounds as if the installers did not clean the system.

What did they write on the Benchmark Certificate about water treatment?

Did you get a blue certificate posted to you by CORGI ??? If not they failed to notify it. You need to get that sorted out as it could give a problem when you sell.

Tony

 

[Fleeting Glimpse]

flushed with X300?

Why has the water turned rusty though?

I thought the flushing process was to get rid of flux and other stuff?

Also no I have no corgi docs come through.

 

[tonybhoy]

Sentinel X300 is used for flushing new systems.

Sentinel X400 is used for chemically cleaning old systems prior to the installation of a new boiler.

You should have had the Corgi notification through by now it only takes about ten days once the boiler/gas appliance has been registered.

 

[Agile]

Also no I have no corgi docs come through.

I think you need to take it up with the installers!

They are responsible for ensuring the system is clean! You would win a Court case for dealing with the dirt in the system.

If they either used X300 or just wrote it in, as many do when they have used no chemicals at all, then its not even the correct chemical if the old radiators were not replaced.

All installers are required to notify CORGI who in turn notify Building Control and that information is fouind in searched for the HIP.

You must get them to do that! If they refuse then report it to CORGI !!! They will require them to correct that omission.

It seems you had cowboys!

Tony