A 6 month old combi boilered system, plumbed in mainly plastic pipe.
About two months ago I got a problem with the hot water (DHW) not flowing hot enough.
I called the boiler engineer (under warranty) who said that the heat exchanger was blocked with metal flakes that must have come from the inside of the radiators.
He said it was rare but there was no other explanation. Therefore not a warranty repair, but he cleaned out the muck from the fine-finned DHW heat exchanger in return for some beer money and all was well for a while.
It's happened again now and I've cleaned out the gunk myself.
My call to the merchant who supplied the whole package has resulted in a request for a sample, which I will be taking in tomorrow. Not an unreasonable request I guess.
I'm just seeking anyone's advice who might have come across this problem before. What causes it? I cannot think of anything other than the rads, since nothing else is iron(magnetic).
Is there an easy solution? A plumber friend suggested fitting a Magnatec inline filter to trap the flakes but I then wonder how long the rads will last if they are cheapos or a bad batch that are disintegrating from the inside. Equally, the idea of swapping them all out is not too appealing either. And that's assuming that the merchant is willing to do that.
Are there any arguements the merchant could use to try to avoid dealing with the issue? I know they are unlikely to pay for a plumber to swap out the rads, but it would be nice to know I was on firm ground about insisting on replacements.
FYI, all the treatments (cleanser/inhibitor etc) were by the book.
Help!
Thanks as always. Rob