is inhibitor necessary

[unluckykentucky]

hi all,just had an engineer fit a new heat exchanger to my boiler,other was scaled and very noisey.
the system was drained as the boiler is on the ground floor,rads all above boiler needed venting.
system drained 2 times as new exchanger joint leaked water.
this was done by the makers of the boiler under a fully inclusive price,good value.
now the system has no inhibitor,xi00 was added during installation 3.5 years ago.
no inhibitor was added after exchanger swap.
does it need it ?

 

[Paul Barker]

I know there are people here who sware by inhibitor, but some manufacturers refuse to comment.

I repair the boilers for a really great installer in York who gets everything cock on, he doesn't use inhibitor, there is no problem with his boilers.

Some years ago when I had combi training at Baxi the technical trainer said the main purpose of inhibitor was to breing ph back neutral after using acid cleanser. He also stated that cast iron heat exchangers liked an acid water environment.

I once phoned Ideal to ask which inhibitor to use. "We don't like to comment on additives".

The installer in York said he was told (by a manufacturer) not to use it attacks the seals at the back of the Giannoni heat exchanger and also in diverter valves. I checked the manufacturers instructions and right enough there is no specification to add inhibitor.

I use Sentinel X100 myself.

It's up to you.

 

[corgiman]

I once phoned Ideal to ask which inhibitor to use. "We don't like to comment on additives".

but they have a great big list of the additives they want in their boilers stamped to the front of em

 

[unluckykentucky]

thanks paul.
i had 2 radiators changed last year as i wanted more heat in some rooms and they added the same inhibitor as previously used,there is a label on front of boiler with added date,still less than i year.
is it worth me contacting boiler makers technical help line ?.
thanks.

 

[Bambergaspipe]

hi all,just had an engineer fit a new heat exchanger to my boiler,other was scaled and very noisey.
the system was drained as the boiler is on the ground floor,rads all above boiler needed venting.
system drained 2 times as new exchanger joint leaked water.
this was done by the makers of the boiler under a fully inclusive price,good value.
now the system has no inhibitor,xi00 was added during installation 3.5 years ago.
no inhibitor was added after exchanger swap.
does it need it ?

Definitely for open vented systems, most Manufacturers insist when installing Combi`s, part of filling in the Benchmark & guaranteeing your boiler

 

[unluckykentucky]

update,spoke to the companys technical dept about this situation,i have been told that exchanging the heatexchanger is very similar to installing a new boiler and they reccomend inhibitor in their info.
with this i went to their customer service dept,without any argueing they have agreed to credit me half the original cost and they have done this now,just seen it credited to my account.
thanks all.

 

[mehran]

update,spoke to the companys technical dept about this situation,i have been told that exchanging the heatexchanger is very similar to installing a new boiler and they reccomend inhibitor in their info.
with this i went to their customer service dept,without any argueing they have agreed to credit me half the original cost and they have done this now,just seen it credited to my account.
thanks all.

for a £10 bottle of inhibitor? got yourself good deal from the sounds of it, what i want to know is what is the difference between the pts tssm-1 and x100? or any other cheap stuff?

 

[Bambergaspipe]

[what i want to know is what is the difference between the pts tssm-1 and x100? or any other cheap stuff?

Pts x100 & x400 is a load of old pony & trap ,thats the difference

 

[ChrisR]

Manufacturer's advice on inhibitors is all over the place. In other words they don't know, unless they have ulterior motives. (Surely not )
We are told that inhibitor prevents limescale depositing on the inside of the main H/Ex on first heating, which has to be a good thing.
Some (EG Fernox) inhibitors used to attack some "rubber" seals, but Fernox changed the recipe years ago to prevent it and there are plenty of seal materials to chose from, so I'd be surprised if it still happens with reputable inhibitors.

Some of the German manufacturers tend to go for the "you must use clean water" approach, which is pretty blinkered. Reality means you get some flux residues, some new water added periodically, and hard water.

I must say that the overwhelming majority of clean systems I see have obviously got inhibitor in them, and the dirty ones, haven't.

 

[Bambergaspipe]

hi all,just had an engineer fit a new heat exchanger to my boiler,other was scaled and very noisey.
the system was drained as the boiler is on the ground floor,rads all above boiler needed venting.
system drained 2 times as new exchanger joint leaked water.
this was done by the makers of the boiler under a fully inclusive price,good value.
now the system has no inhibitor,xi00 was added during installation 3.5 years ago.
no inhibitor was added after exchanger swap.
does it need it ?

Yes.

 

[unluckykentucky]

thanks all.
damage was done due to hard water problem in my oh i cant say boiler makers name as they have no say here.
but it was cheaper to get heat exchanger changed even at their full price than doing anything about the poor recyled london water.
bg service this unit but they have only wanted o sell me a new boiler.
anyway thanks all.

 

[Heatspec]

for a £10 bottle of inhibitor? got yourself good deal from the sounds of it, what i want to know is what is the difference between the pts tssm-1 and x100? or any other cheap stuff?

There is now a standard, a lot of inhibitors were rubbish, but to know which ones are any good there was no knowing now on the bottle there should be a

build/cert DWTA sticker displayed on the bottle.

sentinel, Fernox and Kamco were part of the work group to get a minimum standard.

I found this out while on a course at Kamco.

 

[JohnD]

is inhibitor necessary

Yes

this weekend, I've been scraping cupfulls of black corrosion sludge off the Magnaclean I put on my old mum's system (which did not have inhibitor).

However my own system (inhibited with Sentinel) is as clean as this

 

[mehran]

i am in no doubt that a open vented system needs inhibitor, but a sealed system can only ever have a set amount of corrosion before all the available oxygen in the water is tied up in the black stuff( cant remember the word )

now johnD is you mums system a open vented system or used to be a open vented system that was not cleaned out?

all bets are off when you throw in plastic pipe

 

[namsag]

Fitted my parents heating in back in 1981, fully pumped back boiler with air seperator never had a single bit of inhibitor in it, It`s had one new rad and one pump about ten years ago. Water as clean as day it went in.