Living in a hard-water area, I'm finding that I have to replace the secondary heat exchanger on my Brittony 80 combi boiler about once every 12 months. At £130 a pop, that hurts. I've tried an electronc water softener and a magnetic one. Neither seem to help much. I'm wondering about buying a phosphate one such as a "Combi-Mate". They cost about £100. I'm wondering if this would be a good investment - or just more money down the drain.
Thank you.
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Phosphate dosing systems do not soften water. However, they should reduce or eliminate limescale buildup on your combi, saving you from your yearly exchanger swap out. It won't give all the benefits of an ion-exchange softener, which really does soften the water, though.
Electronic and magnetic conditioners are complete snake oil. No credible person in the history of the universe has been able to find any effect from using them on a domestic water system.
They do work and cost around £50 in Homebase, B&Q. The only problems that the on the body where the venturi is, the venturi holes can block up. When changing a canister use a paper clip to clear out.
Scale should block a heat ex but not pop it. Get on to Chaffataeux.
Thank you for the info. So are these ion-exchange softeners the most cost-effective way to prevent heat-exchanger blockages from limescale? Can anyone recommend one that is affordable and effective? Are they easy to fit?
That's certainly my impression too.
Al D
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Either the phosphate doser or ion-exchange softener will deal with the scaling issue, and if you are worried only about the scaling, then the phosphate doser will do the job effectively.
Having softened water means that apart from the water feeling more pleasant to the touch, it makes soaps, detergents and shampoos etc. work much more effectively, so you use less.
To give you an illustration, I've had a softener for 20 years (same one and still OK). In a household of 4, it gets through a bag of salt (about £5 if you buy 10 bags) every three weeks or so. There is more than a £5 saving in soaps, detergents and shampoos in that time.
So in effect, the capital cost is the only incremental outlay.
I have a metered model (Kinetico), although there are other makes with metering now. These use less salt than the timer based ones because they regenerate when a volume of water has been used. I would look around and then ask who the manufacturers are of the ion exchange tanks and resins and the valve. Most systems are made up from OEM components from a small number of manufacturers with Autotrol being one of the leading valve makes.
It should do the trick. IIRC the makers of combimate (cistenmiser) also offer a guarentee that they will meet the cost of any boiler repairs resulting from limescale damage should they occur after the boiler has been protected by the combimate.
Worth looking on ebay for one sometimes. I got one for about 40 quid.
I wanted to thank you all for your invaluable input. I changed the secondary heat exchanger and also instaled a phosphate doser from B&Q (£41.00!). Hopefully this will save me literally hundreds over the next few years so I just can't thank you enough. Folks like you restore my faith in my fellow countryman! It's really good to know there are still people around who will give free (and good) advice to someone in need.
Al D = = = = = = = = = = = = = = to email me, first remove the three-letter animal from my email address.
Minor point, but combimates don't have canisters - you refill them with silophos balls. Drivel is talking about some other device no doubt...
According to Cistermiser: yes since it is a food grade additive.
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may not be true for other similar sounding products.
When I plumbed my one in, I arranged it such that I could deliver either treated or untreated water to the kitchen taps (controled by a pair of valves). I was interested to see if it would also help reduce scale in the kettle, and also if you could detect any change in taste.
The answer seems to be only a little WRT to the kettle (most of the scale deposition in kettles seems to be precipitation as the water cools rather than when boiling in the first place). As for taste I can't taste any difference in the water when drunk neat (although we have a water filter which may be altering masking the effect), I am not convinced that there is not a small change to the taste of coffee however! (but it is very subtle if there at all and it may just be my imagination).
No, they come lose in a bag with the new unit. You buy refils in a bottle. To refil you pour the balls into the dome of the combimate. No canister at any stage of the process.
Why? ISTM you are thinking of softening systems that raise the sodium content of the water. That is not what we are discussing here.
Have you tried Scalewatcher? Unlike cheap competition it uses patented audio frequency and really works for me.
I live in a hard water area and have been blighted by all the problems that this brings with it. However, after only 6 weeks of installing Scalewatcher my water supply is really soft, the kettle no longer furs up and my shower appears to have descaled itself.
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