Boilermate II - how does it work?

[notevenadiyer]

Does anyone know how a boilermate II FE 200 works. Is it basically an unvented system with a small F&E tank on the top for hot feed only with all cold feeds run from mains?

Help and advice greatly appreciated

 

[ChrisR]

See the Gledhill website, which is good.

Basically mains pipe passes through a tank of hot water, getting hot on the way.
CH the same, another pipe through the tank.

 

[gas4you]

I always thought the the boilermate 2 used the thermal store water to circulate around the rads

 

[notevenadiyer]

Cheers for your help. Looks like if you are going to work on then you have to treat all water as mains and issolate hot and cold accordingly.

Am i right in assuming that the f&e is for the thermal store cylinder only for the central heating, the same as if it was in the loft?

If so do i drain down central heating like a normal vented system to cut in new towel radiator then refill through f&e above the cylinder

When refilling is it possible to put inhibitor in to f&e or should you not do on this system?

 

[gwltabb]

I did this recently - turned off mains supply at stop tap, drained down, did what I need to, then turned mains supply back on. Added in a couple of litres of inhibitor through the f&e tank (after letter out a few litres of water!)

 

[scatmanjohn]

I always thought the the boilermate 2 used the thermal store water to circulate around the rads

Me too.

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

This might help. See diagram on page 3

More info Here

 

[baxpoti]

I always thought the the boilermate 2 used the thermal store water to circulate around the rads

Me too.

Great unless you want a bath 2 minutes after putting the heating on.

 

[gas4you]

I'm not going stupid then (yet)

 

[nickso]

Cheers for your help. Looks like if you are going to work on then you have to treat all water as mains and issolate hot and cold accordingly.

Am i right in assuming that the f&e is for the thermal store cylinder only for the central heating, the same as if it was in the loft?

If so do i drain down central heating like a normal vented system to cut in new towel radiator then refill through f&e above the cylinder

When refilling is it possible to put inhibitor in to f&e or should you not do on this system?

be aware that if you drain it down it may not refill as the cold feed is prone to blocking. it can be sorted by making a new cold feed though.

inhibitor is ok to put in.

 

[baxpoti]

Inhibitor is essential.

You will need twice as much inhibitor as a normal system, due to the large store of primary water.

I usually add 2 x X100 and 1 x X200
(lots of these connected to Suprimas, what a combination)!

 

[nickso]

(lots of these connected to Suprimas, what a combination)!

why? after the 3rd generation pcb is fitted they will have no trouble with a suprima/bm with a double dose.

 

[notevenadiyer]

Many thanks for everyones help. I wont have a chance to look at boilermate until i start job so have a couple of questions.

F&E-Only had a brief glance at it but it looked like a sealed unit. Is it? If so how do i add inhibitor?

Lookes like a common problem is cold fill gets blocked- the only cold fill i can think it means is the feed to the ballcock. Is this right or am i being a bit backward cause if it is i cant understand why they get blocked so easily.


If someone can put me out of my misery it would be appreciated.

 

[gas4you]

I've yet to come across a BM2 that is sealed. They usually have a good fitting lid on the top of the F&E tank, remove this and pour in whatever.

NO, it is not the cold feed to the ball valve. It is the cold feed from the F&E tank to the thermal store. You will see a 15mm built in pipe off the bottom of the F&E tank.

This is a really stupid design, as it drops to the bottom of the thermal store tank and curls upwards like a hockey stick. Therefore the open end gets blocked with the sludge and carp in the bottom of the store.

You may be able to clear this sludge with chemical, maybe by removing the F&E tank and using a flexible drain unblocker, but sadly these often do not work, so the last resort is back filling.

If you are careful and VERY lucky, you can remove the drain cock, fit a 1/2" to 15mm fitting then T in a new 'filling link' from the F&E tank, adding a new drain cock on as well.

Be warned though, these are VERY fragile cylinders and easily split/crack.

 

[notevenadiyer]

Cheers all makes sense now.

How do i go about back filing. Seems likely i will have to do this!