Hi
I realise this thread is 9 years old, but my old boiler has been kettling for longer than that. It's an Ideal E-Type
35KW. I've had this system for 20 years and from the day I inherited it, it was wonky. The rads never got really hot.
I messed about with it for about 10 years, becoming a bit of an expert is all aspects of vented systems! I flushed it endlessly,
to no avail. The cause, I discovered by chance, was a nasty set of pipes which were almost totally blocked. One 22mm pipe
had a 5mm hole through the rust! It seems the layout may cause it, but ours is identical to another 50 on the estate which give
no trouble. Ironically, the previous owner had a contract with BG and engineers had added inhibitor to the buggered system for years
and years, but no-one seems to have noticed it was doing no good at all.
Replacing the blocked pipes did no good because all the microbore tubing was blocked as well. I laboriously cleaned
these out by using, not mains ( not enough pressure ), but a home-made 'gun'. The rads got hot ( ish). I used inhibitor, but within
2 years the pipes to the pump were blocked solid. I cleaned them out, put in inhibitor and fitted a Magnaclean.
I got lazy because I'm an old man ( sigh ) and havnt touched it for ages. The rads are cold again and I must do something.
I'm reluctant to spend on a new boiler, because we're moving soon. Can I replace the heat-exchanger, assuming it's corroded
and lime-scaled?
Sorry if this is a bit long. The other question, which I guess I should post elsewhere, is about cleaning out blocked microbore
tubing. My Mickey-Mouse method requires access to the manifolds ( 8mm!! and all obsolete ) which I no longer have as 'Er indoors
has laid fitted carpets. ( I hate fitted carpets )
Regards
Bruce
I realise this thread is 9 years old, but my old boiler has been kettling for longer than that. It's an Ideal E-Type
35KW. I've had this system for 20 years and from the day I inherited it, it was wonky. The rads never got really hot.
I messed about with it for about 10 years, becoming a bit of an expert is all aspects of vented systems! I flushed it endlessly,
to no avail. The cause, I discovered by chance, was a nasty set of pipes which were almost totally blocked. One 22mm pipe
had a 5mm hole through the rust! It seems the layout may cause it, but ours is identical to another 50 on the estate which give
no trouble. Ironically, the previous owner had a contract with BG and engineers had added inhibitor to the buggered system for years
and years, but no-one seems to have noticed it was doing no good at all.
Replacing the blocked pipes did no good because all the microbore tubing was blocked as well. I laboriously cleaned
these out by using, not mains ( not enough pressure ), but a home-made 'gun'. The rads got hot ( ish). I used inhibitor, but within
2 years the pipes to the pump were blocked solid. I cleaned them out, put in inhibitor and fitted a Magnaclean.
I got lazy because I'm an old man ( sigh ) and havnt touched it for ages. The rads are cold again and I must do something.
I'm reluctant to spend on a new boiler, because we're moving soon. Can I replace the heat-exchanger, assuming it's corroded
and lime-scaled?
Sorry if this is a bit long. The other question, which I guess I should post elsewhere, is about cleaning out blocked microbore
tubing. My Mickey-Mouse method requires access to the manifolds ( 8mm!! and all obsolete ) which I no longer have as 'Er indoors
has laid fitted carpets. ( I hate fitted carpets )
Regards
Bruce
