"Kalico" wrote in message
...
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

Installing the Magnaclean is a very idea. Firstly it will protect the
boiler for the rad problems you have. Once sorted it will them protect the
boiler and system for sludge. They are pretty essential in at least boiler
changes.