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[TD]

Were dying to know if ya called  plumber out yet?? 

Or are you freezing yer balls off ..... going to nearly freezing tonight .....

[Sir Tigger KC]

Not yet... I was going to call him today but forgot! 

If I'd have called him out last week when it was nice and mild he'd have come out quickly and I'd be sorted, but now I'll have get in line behind all the other numpties who put it off till they got cold!   

[Kevin Wood]

I thought that if a boiler boils or kettles as I think it's known, then it's very noisy? 

Can be. Normally, it's a series of thumps as water works its' way into pits in the heat exchanger surface, or sludge therein, gets very hot very quickly and rapidly expands into steam. Our boiler kettled like mad when we moved into the house. Flushed the system, ran it for a month with a cleaning solution, then flushed again, treated with inhibitor and it's been quiet ever since. It was 6 years old back then without any sign of the system having been serviced.

[TD]

I thought that if a boiler boils or kettles as I think it's known, then it's very noisy? 

Can be. Normally, it's a series of thumps as water works its' way into pits in the heat exchanger surface, or sludge therein, gets very hot very quickly and rapidly expands into steam. Our boiler kettled like mad when we moved into the house. Flushed the system, ran it for a month with a cleaning solution, then flushed again, treated with inhibitor and it's been quiet ever since. It was 6 years old back then without any sign of the system having been serviced.

The boiler might have been serviced, but unless you specifically ask for it, a system flush will never happen on a 'normal' boiler service ime.

Sir Tig, considering the age of his system, might be worth asking the plumber to power flush the system, it will at least clean all the sludge out of the system 

I have on of those magnetic filters fitted to mine, that attracts the sludge and the plumber cleans it every year, altho not a lot of sludge is in it when he does, I guess it stops the sludge building up in the system 

[Sir Tigger KC]

So the plumbers been.....



..... listened to it glugging and gurgling.....



...... and the diagnosis is that it's nothing serious.....



Despite having drained it down and bled it etc etc he reckons I've still got air in the system and he's suggested that I drain it again and fill it from the drain cock with a pressure reducing valve so all the air is forced upwards and out the tank.  He was here for about 20 minutes, no big red labels, no mention of new boilers and said "They're great old boilers! Keep it going as long as you can!"  

I'll give that a go tomorrow and fingers crossed he's right! 

PS: I did think about adding one of those magnetic filters into the system.   

[STEMO]

If it's nothing serious, why does it turn itself off after 20 minutes?

[TD]

So the plumbers been.....



..... listened to it glugging and gurgling.....



...... and the diagnosis is that it's nothing serious.....



Despite having drained it down and bled it etc etc he reckons I've still got air in the system and he's suggested that I drain it again and fill it from the drain cock with a pressure reducing valve so all the air is forced upwards and out the tank.  He was here for about 20 minutes, no big red labels, no mention of new boilers and said "They're great old boilers! Keep it going as long as you can!"  

I'll give that a go tomorrow and fingers crossed he's right! 

PS: I did think about adding one of those magnetic filters into the system.   

Hope that fixes it for you Sir Tig......let us know how you get on 

I only have a magnetic filter, as I have to, for the 7 year warranty on the boiler to be valid....it was about £100 iirc....but it has to cleaned every year....and probably worth it, not only for the boiler warranty but to stop sludge building up 

[aaronjb]

I have a MagnaFlow on the boiler in Bracknell too - it collects a surprising amount of crud.

Don't try and rinse it off the magnet without removing the plastic sleeve from the magnet though .. it's like chasing iron filings around 

[Sir Tigger KC]

If it's nothing serious, why does it turn itself off after 20 minutes?

Because it's over heating with all the air in the system and he reckoned that the reason all this air isn't venting is that the pump is located just after the feed/vent pipe so flow is pretty strong there and the air gets dragged past the vent. 

[STEMO]

If it's nothing serious, why does it turn itself off after 20 minutes?

Because it's over heating with all the air in the system and he reckoned that the reason all this air isn't venting is that the pump is located just after the feed/vent pipe so flow is pretty strong there and the air gets dragged past the vent. 

Hmmm......hasn't the pump always been there?

Yet this year it's all behaving differently?

[Andy H]

Heating systems contain a mixture of metals and there is an ever present risk of corrosion.

What might be happening is that corrosion is producing gas and that you are adding fresh water containing dissolved oxygen which is causing more corrosion and generating more gas.

Chuck a bottle of inhibitor in the header tank (if you haven't done it already) and carry on bleeding those radiators.

[TD]

Any news? Sir Tig

[Sir Tigger KC]

Well I drained and filled it up via the drain cock on Saturday and for good measure threw in another bottle of cleaner, Sentinal X400 this time.  Although there was still some air glugging about, it was an improvement on before and I think it's slowly but surely getting better.   

I'll give it a few more days and will drain, flush and refill with inhibitor and maybe some de-scaler (Sentinal X200) that you can leave in.