Descaling heat exchanger plate on an Ideal Response Combi

[janea27]

Rather than fix it myself, I was wondering what is a reasonable price to pay to descale the heat exchange plate on my Ideal Response 80 combi boiler? This guy I called wanted to do a full flush (approx £375) but said the cheaper option would be £250 (presumably to descale to heat exchange plate.

Thanks

 

[adlplumbing]

to be honest the boiler is a bag main heat ex is no longer avaible except to bg who bought shed load
you be better of buying a new boiler and save more in long run

 

[jackecole]

descaling plate heat exhcnagers is not very good in my opinion, better off replacing them, but it's your call.

 

[Gasguru]

The Response is a junk boiler. Before you throw any money at it, it should be checked for all the other possible problems ie. primary heat exchanger rotting, diverter valve sticking, leaks on plastic heat ex. manifolds. perforated vessel etc. If these are all ok and you want to keep it it should be no more than a couple of hours work to remove the plate exchanger and acid clean, perhaps 1/2 day max. Have to be a desperate RGI to take these on....not something I'd bother with...better work out there

Nothing wrong with descaling plate heat exchangers...done PROPERLY they are as good as new.

 

[jackecole]

what do yoiu use yourself to descale them ?

I have just heard so many people saying cleaning them never cleans them fully and a new one is better off all round.

 

[fazedup71]

spirts of salt will do the job, it is pretty strong stuff and you will need to flush with plenty of water after. It could at the very worst kill the plate to plate but it has not happened to me yet ( fingers crossed )

 

[jackecole]

what just add some salt into the water?

 

[nickso]

difficult to de-scale a plate h/e on a response.....it doesn't have one. if the one and only primary h/e is scaled just forget it. taking it out is a pain in the arse unless you have done a few.

new boiler time.....long overdue really.

 

[Gasguru]

Assumed it's the condensing version of the Response.

The plate is part immersed in a "bain marie" on the hob to get the chemical to work fast.

Domestic side in London is nesarly always clean so just filled with boiling water to help heat transfer. The primary side is filled with neat FX2. You need to rock the plate around (using pump pliers on the lugs) to get ALL the air out of it. Normally takes 10 to 20 minutes to clean.

Untitled

• Gasguru
• 30 Sep 2010
• 7

 

[Gasguru]

Double post

 

[jackecole]

very interesting, thanks for that advice. I suppose it's cheaper than replacing and worth trying

 

[nickso]

condensing version? what's that then? response 120 is not condensing and is twin pass.

 

[45yearsagasman]

Not only does it not have a plate,it has no diverter valve either. Do yourself a favour and bin it for a proper boiler.

 

[ironman1]

spirts of salt will do the job, it is pretty strong stuff and you will need to flush with plenty of water after. It could at the very worst kill the plate to plate but it has not happened to me yet ( fingers crossed )

Yep , cleans them in minutes , always leaves a hole in the tarmack.


Be pretty much impossible to find a plate Hex in a response.

 

[Agile]

So what is the condensing version of the Ideal Response then Geoff?

Is it the Ideal Icos ?