Mu mum's Keston Celsius installed December 2003 was running fine,
then a brown burnt patch appeared on the front casing over the
weekend. Called out Keston specialist who diagnosed a failed heat
exchanger, cost to replace including P&L about £900 !!! Not
surprisingly he agreed that replacement would make more sense at
this price.

There is a five year guarantee on the HE but unfortunately the
service history is lacking: each year it was serviced under the
Keston summer service scheme but last year they didn't offer it,
and so the service was missed. With downfiring boilers like this I
've always tended to the view that if running well there's nothing
much to be lost by leaving well alone - expensive mistake. Given
that even if a warranty claim were accepted they only supply the
HE, and the labour has to be paid for, it would still be several
hundred pounds for a boiler whose reliability can be patchy and
which has hopeless parts availability (IME anyway).

So having discussed it with my mum and given that I won't be on
her doorstep much longer, we decided it made more sense to bite
the bullet and get her local friendly (they are good) plumbing and
heating firm to replace it, since she will have to rely on them
for all repair and maintenance once I move. When she spoke to them
and said it was a Keston the response was "we refuse to touch
them": their preference is for Glow-worm. I'm saying nothing: I'm
sort of being blamed for choosing this one!

Once again leading edge turns to bleeding edge. A Keston Qudos
would be a straight swap - lot of flue needed for anything else -
but sadly for Keston you don't get second chances.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

In article ,
Tony Bryer writes:
Mu mum's Keston Celsius installed December 2003 was running fine,
then a brown burnt patch appeared on the front casing over the
weekend. Called out Keston specialist who diagnosed a failed heat
exchanger, cost to replace including P&L about £900 !!! Not
surprisingly he agreed that replacement would make more sense at
this price.

How/where did it fail?
Melt a hole through the stainless steel?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 04 Mar 2008 20:42:34 GMT Andrew Gabriel wrote :
How/where did it fail?
Melt a hole through the stainless steel?

No, when I took the cover off I was expecting to see something awful,
but all that was visible was that the 'asbestos' protection to the HE
had come adrift, though I think that this was as a result of the
overheating not the cause. It's still running (the visiting Keston
engineer didn't seem to concerned about this) and there's no pressure
loss. From reading a post found through Google it appears that there
may be some ceramic inside that keeps the heat where it is meant to be
and this has failed.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

In article ,
Tony Bryer writes:
On 04 Mar 2008 20:42:34 GMT Andrew Gabriel wrote :
How/where did it fail?
Melt a hole through the stainless steel?

No, when I took the cover off I was expecting to see something awful,
but all that was visible was that the 'asbestos' protection to the HE
had come adrift, though I think that this was as a result of the
overheating not the cause. It's still running (the visiting Keston
engineer didn't seem to concerned about this) and there's no pressure
loss. From reading a post found through Google it appears that there
may be some ceramic inside that keeps the heat where it is meant to be
and this has failed.

There is, lining the upper sides above the water tubes. It looks
quite like a thicker version of the stuff on the outside (probably
different material), but it's not solid like ceramic. I did wonder
how it was put in -- I think it must be done before the top is
welded on.

There's an over-temp fusible link in the cabinet which would
probably go if it got too hot in there.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]