Inhibitor and/or other products?

[CluelessDIYer1]

I bought some Sentinel x100 inhibitor for the system but was wondering if any other products should be used in this situation. I'll give the run down in time order...

Nov 2013 - get the house. No idea what if anything was used in the system up until this point.
Jan/Feb 2014 - bend a pipe trying to remove a rad resulting in plumber call out. System fully drained, pipe sorted & then system re-filled. No inhibitor added.
November 2014 - Call plumber out again, system drained (partially i think), system re-filled. No inhibitor added.

I then learn about inhibitor & it's requirement.

There were a few of these Sentinel products on the shelf. X400, X200 i think was one also.

In the situation i just described would you just stick the x100 in or because it's been a while would you stick some other product in as well as / instead of?

 

[Scarum]

My way of thinking is, for what it costs and the result of not having it in the system it would be stupid not to put some in.

X100 is what you want (up to 8 single panel rads), x200 if you have a limescale issue / noisy boiler.

X400 goes in if you have a problem with rust (cold rads at the bottom / flow issues) and then whole system needs flushing out after 4 weeks when using x400. Do the latter in the summer unless no one is living at home right now!

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

8 rads? I thought it was 10?

Let's see...

Upstairs is 2x 1600x600 singles, 1 small double, 1 towel rad.
Downstairs is 1 small double, another 1600-x-600 single, a medium double, another medium double & a small double.

So that's 9. For when i've not given measurements it's because i don't know them. I only know the 1600s because we were going to have it replaced until the plumber messed us about.

I don't know if the boiler is noisy to be honest. I don't know how you'd determine it. It doesn't make a racket but it does make some sort of noise at points during the day, such as when i guess it kicks in & stuff. It doesn't annoy me i know that much.



And for sure i'll be putting some in. I'd just never known about it until recently otherwise it'd have gone in sooner.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Just thinking, for the sake of it would you just bung some x200 in as well as the x100 while it's getting done?

You mentioning the x400 had me thinking though - there's 1 rad in particular that keeps getting cold at one end but not the other. Can't remember if it's top or bottom. Not quite cold cold but mild & the other end is warm.

 

[Scarum]

You're right, x100 treats 10 rads. A double rad counts as two.

If your boiler makes a kettling sound then try x200, otherwise don't worry.

Your rad that gets cold on one side might indicate a system that's not balanced, is this rad on the ground floor and furthest from the boiler? If so it might not be getting heat from the boiler as the previous rads are hogging the flow. There's a good how to on this site to balance rads.

Is your system oven vented? If so check the small F&E tank in the loft for signs of rust. If there is, chuck some x400 in for 4 weeks then drain and flush.
There are loads of posts on this site worth reading relating to F&E tanks and cleaning systems out.

 

[Richardthe3rd]

Sentinal expect every system to be checked annually & additional X100 added. This is far from enkeeping with attitude & practice of our trade, which at most would add 'some' inhibitor after installation & monitor the system water after some years or add some additional inhibitor if & when required.

I certainly would not recommend their products for anything & feel they must be diluting X100 as the only reason for any system requiring it to be added annually.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

By kettling i'll assume you mean the 'old school' kettle noise - whistling?

As for the iffy rad, no it's on the upper floor. The boiler is in the 2nd bedroom which connects on to the bathroom & master bedroom. The iffy rad connects on to the master bedroom & as it's not a big house there's not a huge distance between the 4 of them.

We have a combi boiler too so if i've understood what i've read so far, this isn't an open system? (I know you never said it was, i'm just saying )