Sime boiler, year old, never worked properly

Hi

I am getting desperate 8/

The 70s gloworm boiler in my kitchen broke shortly after I moved into my new house from a broken pressure chamber. It had a tank upstairs. I opted to get a combi boiler installed (Sime Format C 80) to save space by removing the tank and save money on the gas. The sytem was flushed at the time the boiler was installed and a chemical was added to help with the flow of the water. This was Jan 05.

It has never worked properly since it was installed. The installation man is not interested in sorting it out, telling me I need to ring the Sime engineer. The Sime engineer has been out to look at it and found that wire mesh, cylindrical filter on water entering the boiler was clogged with black bits so the boiler couldnt tell when the water was on or off. He rinsed the filter under the tap and put it back in. The boiler seemed to work ok for about 2 days. He said I should get the system flushed again. He explained this boiler has a filter to stop the bits entering the boiler and breaking it. I would rather have a boiler that works for a couple of years and then breaks than a boiler that never works because the filter is permanently clogged 8)

I explained the above to a few plumbers and asked if they could quote for flushing the system. They didnt seem to want to do teh job. Is this a lowly job or one that doesnt cost very much to do? Will flushing/power flushing the system clean it or just mean that the boiler clogs after a couple of weeks rather than 2 days?

The boiler has a green led when working normally. The central heating starts about 70% of the time. When it doesn't you still here a fan noise but never get to the stage where you hear the clicking and a gas flame appear in teh little window and the green light starts flashing orange.(this means insufficient pressure according to the manual). The pressure indictor drops from about 2 to 1.25 each time the boiler attempts to start and then slowly creeps back up as the boiler warms up.

If I turn the hot water tap on when the boiler is cold, the gas comes on most of the time and heats the water up for the first 10 seconds, then there is a boiling bubbling sound from teh boiler and the gas cuts out. It then wont light again for a while.

If I turn the hot water on when the central heating has been on for a long time I normally get a few minutes of hot water before the gas cuts out.

My years warrenty runs on in January so I would like the get the system flushed so that if it doesnt change I can go back to teh Sime engineer. Can anyone give me some advice? Know a plumber willing to flush central heating systems in teh Leeds/Bradford area 8) ?

Reply to
Tricky
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The usual advice that I've heard oft repeated is to avoid fitting a combi boiler to an existing system, reason being that which you are currently experiencing. Many people do not pay adequate attention to the provision of corrosion protection during the initial installation of a system, with the result you are finding now.

Flushing may work but why not carry it out yourself, there is no mystique about it. Buy yourself a can of flush and follow the instructions and don't avoid getting rid of the flush properly (it's acidic), and make sure you use anti-corrosion additive (it really does work) after the final flush.

Hope you meet with success.

Regards

Pilgarlick

Reply to
Pilgarlick

Write to the installer with copy to CORGI stating that you have been informed by the Sime engineer that the problem is due to inadequate cleaning and flushing of the system when the replacement boiler was installed. Demand that a proper cleaning and recommissioning is carried out at no cost to yourself. Specify that failure to rectify the problem will result in a county court claim for damages and costs. If there is no response get your solicitor involved PDQ

I would suggest that a serious cleaning is required using Sentinel Ferroquest rather than one of the "softer" acting products. This will take a few hours (bad systems could be days) and should soften, break up and dissolve the scale/sludge which then requires flushing out of the system. If your installer is not willing to do this then there are flushing specialists out there but if you cannot find one contact Grace-Dearborne who make Sentinel products as they may be able to point you at one. Your solicitor will be able to extract the costs from the installer for you.

The Sime boiler is not the problem the poor installation is

Reply to
John

Scale and sludge are the culprits and flushing and dosing the system is the way forward.

However the problem lies with complete inattention to state of the existing system when fitting the new boiler.

The installer in this case has cut a few corners too many. Note only that the type of practice gives rise to the frequently posted remarks about about how much boiler exchanges cost and how little time they take.

Proper installation, flushing, cleaning, adding TRVs, modern controls and the paperwork make a typical heating system upgrade like this several days work. Why should the rest of us have to work to counter popular misapprehensions because of this fitter?

Reply to
Ed Sirett

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