f e tank limescale

[obyapka]

I tried bleeding radiators to remove air, but I don't think water was coming in to the system from the FE tank in the loft. No matter how many times I bled the rads when the heating kicked off and then stopped, there was always glugging water heading back into the boiler (like a water fall). In the loft I examined the FE tank and there is limescale over the exit. I used a length of narrow gauge galvanised wire to poke around the inside of the hole and 3 to 4 inches in to the outlet pipe. Some limescale came free and clouded the tank. When i turned the thermostat up some water was being drawn out of the FE tank! A few hours later after another poke around and bleeding rads, there is now significantly less glugging in the boiler, and only drips of water sound inside.

Now... How can I safely de-limescale the FE tank and feed pipe? Can I use any chemicals? Or anything like harpic powerplus from the supermarket?

 

[alan333]

Turn the heating and hot water heating heating off. Tie up the float valve in the tank. Remove all the water in the tank. Clean the inside of the tank. Wipe the inside with bleach and water. Untie the float valve and allow it to fill up again.

 

[conny]

Turn the heating and hot water heating heating off. Tie up the float valve in the tank. Remove all the water in the tank. Clean the inside of the tank. Wipe the inside with bleach and water. Untie the float valve and allow it to fill up again.

This won't clear the limescale. You need a de-scaler for the tank and I would suggest changing the feed pipe as well. Depending on the length of run, and where it runs, you may reduce the problem by changing a section of piping. However, unless you solve the limescale build up you will just get the same problem happening at some tie in the future. One way to do this is to install a water softener, those this could be expensive.