Do boilers last longer "Up North"?

[Rog200455]

Or perhaps I should say "do boilers last longer in soft water areas"?

I'm thinking about combis, where the plate-to-plate heat exchanger is likely to be become clogged with calcium deposits.

I live in a soft water area - no fur in the kettle ever. Anecdotal evidence among friends seems to suggest that combis are pretty reliable round here and I wondered if water hardness makes a difference?

 

[Agile]

Even in fairly hard water areas, a properly installed and set up combi, is mostly unaffected by hard water.

But if the boiler is never serviced and gets out of adjustment then hard water is another aspect which could cause problems.

Its over a year since I had to clean a plate heat exchanger because of lime scale problems.

It is only a feeling but I wonder if the apparently slower pace of life up north means boilers are more often serviced and those installing and servicing boilers do it more carefully.

Certainly many of the posts on forums about sloppy work is from cities where a lazy engineer is more likely to survive.

In more remote areas like the Lake District the engineers needs to be pretty spot on as their jobs come from word of mouth and a bad reputation will go before them.

Tony

 

[Rog200455]

Interesting theory Tony - sociology and plumbing! The fact that you mentioned cleaning heat exchangers at all goes some way to answering my question...

 

[Agile]

We regularly clean plates because of rusty sludge and is one of the most common faults as a result of a dirty system.

Only yesterday I had to do one where the system was chemically cleaned in 2013 ( by others ) and a Magnaclean was fitted.

In spite of that dirt had got past the filter into the plate.

Lime scale is VERY rare if there is not another fault like a dripping tap. Few engineers know how to clean them and would just replace it.

One I went to with a dripping tap had totally blocked it and still the owner would still not admit the tap was dripping in spite of a stalagmite on the sink. He called me because there was no flow any more.

Tony

 

[Rog200455]

Ha ha! I was visiting a factory in Herts and my host said, "lets have a cuppa". He took he into a kitchen area and the kettle was furred up. I told him that didn't happen in my area and he didn't believe me at first - he thought it was a universal problem. He said that lime scale was the bane of his life and would consider moving "up north"!

 

[Agile]

Lime scale does affect household life but is totally manageable.

Those with a nice lifestyle fit a Harvey water softener and feed it with salt.

Others descale their kettles regularly or just come to like the kettling sound in anticipation of a cuppa.

They also use a lot more soap to wash and more powder in the washing machine.

We imagine northerners spend all their time drinking "mild" in the Rovers Return.

Cornwall and Wales also have soft water in most areas.

 

[Rog200455]

You can still get mild here - just!

Most bitters are under £3 per pint and a pint in a Sam Smiths pub is under £2!

We don't use soap...

 

[mcmoby69]

You can still get mild here - just!

Most bitters are under £3 per pint and a pint in a Sam Smiths pub is under £2!

We don't use soap...

yeah we all wear clogs and flat caps too. just like fookin hovis land up here. saw a guy the other day and he told me he had a telephone he could use while he was walking round! called it a mobile phone!!!!!!! must think we are stupid up here. you shandy suppin southerners will be telling us next there'll be a man on the moon soon.

 

[Agile]

I think the Hovis advert was filmed in Robin Hood's Bay!

 

[mcmoby69]

anyone south of watford cant tell the difference between yorkshire and lancashire anyway. wouldnt want to confuse any jellied eel eaters

 

[Dan Robinson]

anyone south of watford cant tell the difference between yorkshire and lancashire

There's a difference?

FFS I get vertigo at the A14

 

[JohnD]

Yorkshire is Herriott and Heartbeat, Lancashire is Coronation Street and Les Dawson.

Manchester is Bernard Manning and Caroline Ahearne

 

[Dan Robinson]

I assume that's TV related as I recall Herriott being a vet.

Guess my Lancastrian ex-missus should have eduicated me better. I did live in Yorkshire once.

Couldn't tell the difference.

 

[Newboy]

I think the Hovis advert was filmed in Robin Hood's Bay!

Not unless somebody has moved Shaftesbury from Dorset!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Not unless somebody has moved Shaftesbury from Dorset!

Now there's a double entendre if ever I saw one... where's Jeff?