Hot water keeps running cold.

[DougQuaid0]

Hi,

I have an Alpha combi boiler installed 3 yrs ago, along side a load of new rads.

Approximately 12 after installation, the hot water ran cold and would heat up.
There were no problems with the heating.
I rang the company that installed the system, they said that as the boiler was under guarantee I should contact Alpha.

Contacted Alpha. They came out and said that the boiler had become blocked with very fine debris. They cleaned it out and the water ran fine again....Until......

Approximately another 12 months later. The same thing happened. So I followed the same procedure. Getting the same result.

Another 12 months have past and surprise surprise the hot water has started running cold again.

This time got a different firm around. (Boiler is now out of guarantee).
They have identified the fault as fine debris from the old pipes clogging up the heat exchanger. They have said that the exchanger clogs up, causing an increase in pressure and thus causing the boiler to trip.

They are unsure if it is just one exchanger or both.
The cost to replace both would be approximately £1000, hence have suggested a new boiler might be the way to go
Sad

Has anyone experienced anything along the same lines? found an alternative solution?

Would running a chemical solution through the system and using a magnaclean be any better?

Apologies for the length of the post.

Cheers
Doug

 

[gas4you]

Firstly forget about getting a new boiler

It is usually the system side of the plate HE that clogs up and because of the blockage the heat cannot transfer quick enough from this side of the plate HE to the domestic water side, hence the boiler going off on its stat.

Nothing normally to do with pressure.

You can clean the plate out as often as you like, but as you have sadly found out, unless the system is cleaned properly as well, the same problem will keep occuring

Remove the plate HE and thoroughly clean, then chemical flush the system with X800 or Fernox equivalent. Should give a lasting result. You could also consider fitting a magnaclean or similar to the return heating pipe on the boiler.

The original firm obviously did not flush it correctly and the second one sound like a bunch of money grabbing idiots