Good place to buy secondary heat exchanger for Britony Combi 80 boiler?

[Ed S]

Can anyone advise where is a good place to buy secondary heat exchanger for Britony Combi 80 boiler? In the past, I have usually bought locally from the Plumb Centre, but price was high. (about £100, IIRC). I'd like to buy one now, before the current one gets scaled up. Mail order, perhaps... I live in a very hard water area and it seems I have to replace the thing almost every year.

Many thanks

Ed S

[Andrew Gabriel]

Is there some reason you don't take it out now (before it completely blocks) and descale it? I descalled one on a Baxi a couple of weeks ago -- it was very easy and made the boiler work much better.

[Ed Sirett]

HRPC and other online suppliers. (Not next day service IME). A specialist boiler spares shop.

Why not fit a phosphate dosing system top the cold inlet?

[Ed S]

Thanks for the tip, but it's a weird heat exchanger with no projections to attach pipes to. Otherwise I'd love to try descaling it. To descale this one, it looks as though you'd need a purpose-built descaler.

Ed

[Ed S]

That sounds like a good idea - if it's cheap and easy. Can you suggest a specific make+model?

Thank you.

Ed

[Ed Sirett]

A manufacturer is Combimate I easily found several online sites.

I suspect that the HX is the sort that look like an oversized sardine can with four holes on one side? To descale you simply remove and empty it and then fill it with dilute HCl (eg. Brickwork Cleaner) with appropriate respect for the HCl and yourself.

I've done this a couple of times and it has made a big difference.

[Ian Stirling]

So, why not just put it in a bucket?

[Ed S]

I did try to descale it once by soaking it in citric acid, but it disn't unblock it. Even after all the bubbles stopped forming, it was still blocked. I think you need to get the acid solution flowing through it, for an extended period, don't you?

Ed S

[Ed S]

I tried it once and didn't succeed. I was using household limescale remover though - which may not be HCI... It certainly caused the lime to bubble a lot, but even after the bubbles stopped, it was still well-clogged-up.

Ed S