Hi,
I have a standard gravity fed indirect hot water system and pumped central heating system supplying 12 rad's. The vent and feed from the F&E tank are connected to the gravity fed pipes close to the hot water tank. The hot water coming from the boiler connects to the bottom of the hot water tank heat exchanger and tees off to the F&E feed. The top of the heat exchanger tees to the F&E vent and the return to the boiler. I had a problem 5 years ago with a blockage where the F&E feed joins the system, just where it sizes down to 15mm. At that time I replaced some piping, desludged and inhibited. Now I have intermittent hot water and suspect the same is happening again. I checked the F&E tank and there is a lot of brown sludge and some black particles too. I banged the F&E feed at the point where it blocked last time and my hot water is working for now. I intend to flush out, clean with 2 litres of X800 (more aggressive than what I used last time) and inhibit with 2 litres of X100. My questions are:
Does the sludging indicate that the old inhibitor has failed due to dilution over the years (no obvious leaks) or will it occur even in a properly protected system?
Are the feed and return to the hot water heat exchanger around the wrong way, as I suspect, and if so will that cause accelerated corrosion by drawing air into the system?
Would the hot water heating become more efficient if I reverse the pipes?
I have a lot of boiler kettling too - is the X800 likely to help with this?
Any advice would be welcome.
I have a standard gravity fed indirect hot water system and pumped central heating system supplying 12 rad's. The vent and feed from the F&E tank are connected to the gravity fed pipes close to the hot water tank. The hot water coming from the boiler connects to the bottom of the hot water tank heat exchanger and tees off to the F&E feed. The top of the heat exchanger tees to the F&E vent and the return to the boiler. I had a problem 5 years ago with a blockage where the F&E feed joins the system, just where it sizes down to 15mm. At that time I replaced some piping, desludged and inhibited. Now I have intermittent hot water and suspect the same is happening again. I checked the F&E tank and there is a lot of brown sludge and some black particles too. I banged the F&E feed at the point where it blocked last time and my hot water is working for now. I intend to flush out, clean with 2 litres of X800 (more aggressive than what I used last time) and inhibit with 2 litres of X100. My questions are:
Does the sludging indicate that the old inhibitor has failed due to dilution over the years (no obvious leaks) or will it occur even in a properly protected system?
Are the feed and return to the hot water heat exchanger around the wrong way, as I suspect, and if so will that cause accelerated corrosion by drawing air into the system?
Would the hot water heating become more efficient if I reverse the pipes?
I have a lot of boiler kettling too - is the X800 likely to help with this?
Any advice would be welcome.