Limescale!!!!

[MartinW]

I called out BG today as one of my radiators was intermittently going "cold" He arrived and banged the thermostatic valve. He said they sometimes get jammed. Anyway all seems well. However I have been getting my mixer shower going cold, warm, cold,warm etc etc when standing under it. He said it could be a problem with the heat exchange and the dreaded SCALE!!

We do live in a hard water area and it is a big problem. I have looked at something called "SCALE WIZARD" for about £80. The BG man has recommended a product called "HYDROFLOW" £140 including fitting.

Does anyone have any experience with these or advise

I have a heatline Combi boiler which is 2 years old if that matters.



Thanks

 

[JohnD]

these sound like magnetic devices which are alleged to stop the dissolved calcium carbonate in the water depositing itself when it gets hot.

Some people (including me) have never seen evidence of long-term comparative trials to demonstrate that they work, any better than magnetic bracelets cure arthritis or a potato in a sock cures a cold. I understand that the people who sell them have to agree to give a refund if the customer notices that they don't work (but obviously, not if they don't notice).

You can get a resin water softener which definitely does work because it removes the calcium from the water, and if you pay me £5 I will let you look inside my kettle and water cisterns to demonstrate that not only does limescale no longer get deposited, but the old scale has been dissolved and washed away. If you pay my neighbour £20 he will let you look at his kettle, cistern and sink to see that they are all coated with scale.

 

[Agile]

Many boiler manufacturers will cancel the warranty if you connect the cold water inlet to the outlet from an ion exchange water softener.

This is because there is a risk of salt solution following regeneration and this might corrode the inside of the boiler.

The kitchen tap should always be connected directly to the mains supply if you have an ion exchange softener.

Tony

 

[MartinW]

Im an I.T Man and certainly know very little about this stuff but isn't a water softener a completely different kettle of fish ( and no Im not paying your next door but one neighbour £30 to show me his kettle of fish!!)

And of course a lot more expensive. Also it affects your drinking water doesn't it.

And anyway do you think this is my problem when it comes to "hot and Cold" shower?

 

[JohnD]

Limescale in the shower tap is very likely, as it has a constant flow of water through it (you probably get it on the shower head too) but much less likely on the CH as this is a closed system, what lime there is in the 100litres or so of water it contains will tend to collect in the boiler, and it doesn't get replenished with additional hard water unless you drain and refill. edited to say if you have a combi I suppose there will be some scale in it on the DHW side but I don't know how bad this will be due to flow through of the water as it's heated.

You can plumb your drinking water tap on the hard or softened supply according to preference.

As you may have guessed, people like me who live in a hard water area and have installed a softener tend think they're really wonderful. So far in 20 years of softener use my boiler hasn't failed, but maybe I've been lucky and not had the softener go wrong. Of course the CH has inhibitors in it.

 

[MartinW]

So are you saying I can "descale" the shower itself, as I have descaled the head. And also the BG man said it could be scale build up in the heat exchage on the boiler? Whats more likely?

What should my next move be?

 

[JohnD]

Dunno, I love my softener, let's see if anyone pops up who's actually got personal experience of one damaging a boiler, not a FOAF.

 

[Softus]

...if you pay me £5 I will let you look inside my kettle...If you pay my neighbour £20 he will let you look at his kettle

Do you live in Wysteria Lane, perchance?

 

[JohnD]

Where the plumber lives? No, but I've got a vacancy for a desperate housewife.

 

[Nige F]

So are you saying I can "descale" the shower itself, as I have descaled the head. And also the BG man said it could be scale build up in the heat exchage on the boiler? Whats more likely?

What should my next move be?

Knight to King Prawn 4