Glowworm Xtramax : Heat Exchanger and Contracts

[rideforever]

I have a Glow worm Xtramax in a 3 bed, 2 bath, 9 rad flat. Boiler is maybe 11 years old.

About 8 years ago the Heat Exchanger was replaced, roughly.

And about 4 years ago I took up a Bt homecare contract and almost immediately the exchanger went and they replaced it for free, which was good of them.

Then I have had 4 years no problems.

And now there is a sudden problem with the boiler, hot water tapering off in the showers. Bt came and changed the diverter valve but I have a feeling it is the exchanger again. This time I will pay and it be expensive, maybe £500-£600.

It's in Brighton and the scale is pretty bad around here, judging by the kettle that is white in a week of use.

So, not sure what to do about this problem today, and also long-term and with the contracts. I have paid maybe £900 in 4 years with no problems after the initial exchanger was done, and now looks like I will have to fork out.

I heard that some contracts include the heat exchanger, but I don't know.

Any advice, short or long-term, or contract-wise would be appreciated. Not sure what is the wisest and cheapest way.

Cheers

 

[Agile]

I don't know who your BT are. They provide my telephone line but I did not know they also fixed boilers!

So why did your contract include the HE four years ago but not now?

I suspect its not the main HE that has failed but the plate heat exchanger which is not all that expensive and they can be cleaned too. I charge £136 for cleaning them in my local area.

If your water is particularly hard you should have had a scale reducer fitted when the boiler was installed.

Tony

 

[Dan Robinson]

Scale will be an exclusion on most contracts.

Pretty obvious BT is BG too

 

[Agile]

In that case it explains why my telephone service is so unreliable if its provided by BG !

 

[rideforever]

Thanks and do you know how much I am looking at for a new plate heat exchanger ?

 

[Agile]

Normal domestic boilers are about £80 but yours is larger and a less common boiler model so it is probably going to be two or three times that price or even more!

But thats why cleaning it is far better for everyone although messy!

Tony

 

[muggles]

Is it an Xtramax or an Xtramax HE?

I think you've unwittingly discovered that boiler insurance is, on the whole, a waste of money - if you had that £900 in your bank account you'd not be worrying now about a £400 bill.

Main heat exchangers are rarely covered by insurance policies, and scale will invalidate the policy anyway - you should consider getting a decent water softener installed on your incoming main

If you need a plate heat exchanger, they're about £150-£200 to buy depending on which Xtramax it is

 

[Dan Robinson]

Main heat exchangers are rarely covered by insurance policies, and scale will invalidate the policy anyway - you should consider getting a decent water softener installed on your incoming main

Indeed.

 

[JMGas]

They will have covered it before because BG replace parts that are sludged/scaled once, after you are told that it won't be replace again unless you take necessary action/preventatives e.g powerflush / magna clean.
Contracts can easily pay for themselves if you've got a problematic boiler!

 

[rideforever]

And is it something that a competent diy'er can do ? Buying a new part and all the labour seems wasteful if the thing gets scaled up again and again, pouring acid in it and waiting for the limescale to dissolve doesn't seem too big a thing but removing / replacing the part and the protocol around that I don't know.

I believe it is just Xtramax.

I don't mind having a contract but now it seems a waste of money, I am not sure what other options there are ?

I am not sure the best option wouldn't be to put £300 a year into a special account and use it for any boiler problems / new boiler ... giving it to BG and then getting nothing seems a total waste.

 

[rideforever]

We were once offered a electronic descaler ... but I saw just as many people saying it did nothing as did something.

Frankly I don't like it when I can't maintain things because then the money starts flying out of the window, every service is hundreds of pounds. It would be better to learn how to flush the system every year and descale the plate heat exchanger ... then you could do that every year. But right now I know little about boilers themselves.

 

[muggles]

I don't mind having a contract but now it seems a waste of money, I am not sure what other options there are ?

I am not sure the best option wouldn't be to put £300 a year into a special account and use it for any boiler problems / new boiler ... giving it to BG and then getting nothing seems a total waste.

It is a waste. Putting the money into a boiler maintenance account would save you a lot. Boiler insurance companies don't offer insurance out of charity - they do it to make money

 

[muggles]

We were once offered a electronic descaler ... but I saw just as many people saying it did nothing as did something.

Frankly I don't like it when I can't maintain things because then the money starts flying out of the window, every service is hundreds of pounds. It would be better to learn how to flush the system every year and descale the plate heat exchanger ... then you could do that every year. But right now I know little about boilers themselves.

Those £30 battery-powered jobs contain little more than snake oil. You need a proper Harveys water softener

An annual service should cost between £50 and £90 depending on where you live. A heating system doesn't need flushing every year - if it's done properly it'll never need doing again. Descaling the heat exchanger would be a thing of the past with a water softener, as would furry kettles, water spots in your shower, limescale buildup on taps etc etc etc

 

[rideforever]

Bg just left. Having trouble narrowing it down, was on the phone to Glow worm a lot. He said the boiler is staying on Low Fire which is why the water is going cold and he is not convinced it is circulation, he did some tests - I think he put it on High Fire manually and it was running okay.
Tomorrow I believe he is changing the circuit board and possibly a second part.
Complicated.

 

[rideforever]

And the conclusion : a new circuit board did little ... until suddenly everything started working. So perhaps it was a lose connection between the board and the appliance that was dislodged during the change of the boards.

Luckily didn't cost me anything, so I will thank Father Xmas and buy myself a curry.