"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 21:59:45 +0100, "Ed Rear"
wrote:

When my daughter bought her flat a few months ago, the previous owner
left
the washing machine. It's a bit old but it was working ok till recently
when
it started to leak. Probably not worth trying to fix it so she bought a
new
one. When I connected it up today I found that the hot supply to the
machine
had been taken from the radiator circuit! I hasten to point out that it's
a
gravity fed system, but I can't believe someone would do that. As a
temporary measure I have left the hot valve closed, so it will just use
cold fill, but will this cause problems?
Ed


Yep.

The intention is that the primary (radiator) circuit of the CH should
be filled with water and a corrosion inhibitor added. In normal
operation the feed/expansion tank is there for just that and as a
means of introducing small amounts of water if required to top up.
WHen the system has been freshly filled, there will also be a fair bit
of dissolved air which will come out of the water when heated into the
radiators and may be bled off.

In the scenario that your daughter has, the water is being constantly
replaced with fresh. Lack of corrosion inhibitor and presence of
dissolved air will lead to radiators rusting away.

Not necessarily. In a ferrous free system in a soft water area there may be
no problems at all. In the USA this soft of this is common. They pump
fresh water from cylinders around heating circuits.

I know someone who did this in the UK. He was broke after moving into a new
(old) house. He was in a soft water area, so economised in CH kit. A cheap
copper heat exchanger Fuelsaver boiler, a cheap direct cylinder, an in-line
filter on the boiler return pipe, bronze pump, copper skirting and Myson
heaters. The system was set to 75C, so no Leogionella, and he used a
priority system (a zippo cylinder re-heat) and a blending valve for the DHW
draw-off. So fresh water running around his CH circuit.

He intended to replace with a sealed system when finances were better, but
never got around to it. No inhibitor and still working after 25 years. I
don't recommend people to do this though. But if you are a professional in
the game and know what you are doing, you can do many things that are
against the regs and no harm will be done. The regs are for people who
don't know that much. A pro can bend rules and get way with it without any
adverse affects at all.



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