Limescale problems

[WHPES]

Something which I don't have a lot of experience in - our water is very soft here. However I have been dealing with a system which has been very badly scaled up from a private water supply.

The main problem was water not heating up quickly and I found that the cylinder was scaled. It took 50 (yes FIFTY) litres of concentrated descaler to fully descale the cylinder and hot pipes.

Now I've got it all nice and clean again, I want it to stay that way. I have put one of those Fernox electromagnetic thingys on the supply pipe for the time being but what else does anyone recommend? Are thos Fernox Quantomat units any good? Should we fit a water softening unit?

I remember years ago I took a cylinder to the scrap yard which was badly scaled up. They didn't look inside and paid me for the total weight as if it were all copper! Bet they wouldn't do that now!

 

[Alanka]

My area - West Sussex - has pretty hard water, so I'm used to dealing with the problem of heated water depositing lots of limescale. I once descaled several Gledhill water heaters in a housing estate which were all suffering from much-reduced hot water flow from taps. All of them had had some kind of scale control equipment installed on the cold feed to the heating cylinder - some even had two different types of unit in series! The units were all either magnetic or electrical in nature, but none of them had appeared to have been effective.

In all cases I fitted instead the polyphosphate cartridge type of scale inhibitor, which needs to be refilled or exchanged annually to keep working. None of these customers has come back to me complaining of reduced water flow again, so I know the units are doing the job.

Therefore I would recommend this type of unit to prevent scale build-up in hard water heating appliances, and would avoid the other types of units. I know some people swear by electrical or magnetic units, but I can only speak from my own tried and trusted experiences.

Ion-exchange softening of the hard water is of course a 100% solution, but it's very expensive and needs regular maintenance and salt refilling. Lots of my customers think this solution is 'overkill' - and I agree with them.

 

[oilman]

I live in Berkshire, water here is hard enough to eat, well maybe that's an exaggeration kettles burn out in 12 months, electric showers the same
toilet warning pipes if left leaking scale up as well to the point of so hard is normal here.
I fit a lot of combimates Water management at its best - Cistermiser this is a much nicer installation than a quantophos dispenser. The Quanbtophos starts off with a powder mix with water and wait for it to set, if it doesn't clean out and try again. With a combimate release the cover by pressing two nbuttons, this turns off the incoming and downstream water, unscrew the lid to release pressure. undo the large knurled nut. PLACE A BOWL UNDER. pull off the front
clean the internals, fit the new door seal 'o' ring push the cover back on, re-tighten the knurled nut, fit the pressure screw nut, slam the front on walk away but not before charging the customer.
They warrenty their product against scale problems If you get new scale they would heat exchanger replacement etc, but it doesn't happen so no problem to give such a warrenty also breaks down existing scale in systems, though probably takes a couple of years

I remember years ago I took a cylinder to the scrap yard which was badly scaled up. They didn't look inside and paid me for the total weight as if it were all copper! Bet they wouldn't do that now!

scrappies here have book prices for cylinders, they never weigh, I have even cut holes in cylinder in customers house to scoop out the scale as it is too heavy to move, 2/3 full of scale

 

[oldplumber]

lived in sussex/hants for years and always used electric coils or magnets for scale prevention. if you installed them at the same time as the boiler on the incoming main then we never had any problems with scale build up. if you didnt use one any combi heat exchanger was choked up in 6 months, none of the combis i installed in this set up ever had any issues. And we never replaced a kettle with a magnetic scale reducer as they just didnt scale up.

 

[WHPES]

Update - I've fitted a Fernox Quantomat and Fernox Electronic Water Conditioner.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

I remember years ago I took a cylinder to the scrap yard which was badly scaled up. They didn't look inside and paid me for the total weight as if it were all copper! Bet they wouldn't do that now!

My uncle used to fill his copper pipe with sand and bend the ends over to close it off, (no names though)

Update - I've fitted a Fernox Quantomat and Fernox Electronic Water Conditioner.

Can you update us on its performance as i often get asked for a recommendation on products like these and I have to be honest and say i have fitted many or had feedback when i have. Usually i have forgoteen who i fitted it for and lost the number

 

[oilman]

The Combimate is a silica phosphate dispenser in a nice package for 15mm pipe
it contains two snap closures to isolate the treatment area when the front cover is removed to enable the fragments to be cleaned out and the new "marbles" fitted.
Home | Cistermiser - Water management at it's best
there are several dispensers including the Fernox quantophos dispenser which use a 3mm hole for the chemical to enter the water stream, a great basis on which bunsen burners and gas torches depend, BUT when the water is hard the hole just gets blocked with the scale and the unit is then disabled.
Combimate provide a 5 year guarantee against scaling of the combi heat exchanger providing annual refills have been done.
I acid descaled a combi-boiler so he had hot water in the kitchen and his wife and baby were released from hospital ! I went back a month later and descaled from boiler to bathroom. He called me back a year later to descale the boiler again and fit a Combimate that was about 3 years ago. I have 2 in my house because they work.

 

[Centralheatking]

When we worked in Bath - which has VERY hard water a good trick with the hot
water cylinder was to (after turning water off) undo the top nut on the cylinder
which is the domestic hot water supply, move it over and wack a drill with a masonry bit
down the hole and physically remove the hard lime which seems to congregate there.

Bingo domestic hot water flow again at full tilt !

centralheatking

 

[oilman]

I took the surrey flange 0ff a cylinder last week and you couldn't see through it chipped it out and bingo the taps work again
going back to fit a combimate and a "stopcock" oops main stop tap as he doesn't have one in the house

 

[cistermiser]

And you can guess where I'm from!! I challenge any of you to find me an installation with a Combimate that does not work - I have one in my own house and it really does work! It doesn't only keep your pipes and heat exchanges clear but it also makes cleaning sanitaryware a breeze!
In fact, why not start installing them everywhere to test the theory!!