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

In article ,
(Ed S) writes:
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.

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.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:33:50 +0000, Ed S wrote:

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

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 Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

On 12 Oct 2005 19:09:37 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
(Ed S) writes:
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.

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.

--
Andrew Gabriel

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

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:05:25 +0100, Ed Sirett
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:33:50 +0000, Ed S wrote:

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

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?

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

Thank you.

Ed

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:46:12 +0000, Ed S wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:05:25 +0100, Ed Sirett
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:33:50 +0000, Ed S wrote:

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

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?

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

Thank you.

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.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

In message .uk, Ed
Sirett writes
On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:46:12 +0000, Ed S wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:05:25 +0100, Ed Sirett
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:33:50 +0000, Ed S wrote:

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

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?

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

Thank you.

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.

Actually - I've just chucked one away, complete with pipes



--
geoff

Ed S wrote:
On 12 Oct 2005 19:09:37 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
(Ed S) writes:
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.

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.

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.

So, why not just put it in a bucket?

On 14 Oct 2005 09:58:07 GMT, Ian Stirling
wrote:

Ed S wrote:
On 12 Oct 2005 19:09:37 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
(Ed S) writes:
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.

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.

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.

So, why not just put it in a bucket?

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

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 20:26:10 +0100, Ed Sirett
wrote:

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:46:12 +0000, Ed S wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:05:25 +0100, Ed Sirett
wrote:

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:33:50 +0000, Ed S wrote:

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

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?

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

Thank you.

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.

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