Scalemaster Leak on new Vaillant combi installation

[rajpatel50]

Hi All,

When we had a new combi boiler installed we had a Scalemaster (15mm Magnetic Speedfit) fitted on the cold water pipe just before it enters the boiler. Yesterday we came home to a flooded kitchen after about 4 weeks use of the new boiler.

From my laymans eyes it appears that several holes have punctured the casing of this Scalemaster (not where it connects the 2 pipes, but the actual green casing) with high pressure water spurting from these holes. We've had to turn the cold water supply off.

Has anyone every experienced this before or know a reason why this could happen? We want to make sure if we re-fit another one the same thing will not happen again.

ps: on a related note, can you still run the rads with the cold water mains off? (This may be a silly question but i keep hearing that having a combi means you have a sealed system so can you still run the rads?)

All responses greatly appreciated,

Thanks

Raj

 

[kevplumb]

ps: on a related note, can you still run the rads with the cold water mains off? (This may be a silly question but i keep hearing that having a combi means you have a sealed system so can you still run the rads?)

yes

magnetic scale inhibitors are crap get a decent one

 

[rajpatel50]

Any recommendation on what "a decent one" might be?

 

[Strachan]

The one you`ve got in the cold water feed is for when the boiler is on dhw mode. Stops the plate heat exchanger scaling, nothing to do with heating side. http://www.corgi-direct.com/Product.aspx?cID=1330 Try get one of these fitted for the heating circuit. And a better quality water softener on your cold water mains.

 

[kevplumb]

The one you`ve got in the cold water feed is for when the boiler is on dhw mode. Stops the plate heat exchanger scaling,

oh no they dont

the op never mentioned any probs with heating

and who in their right mind would buy anything from the thieving basingstoke dog

 

[Strachan]

From his post he said the fitting was on the cold water inlet before it entered the boiler, nothing to do with heating as he pointed out too. And as for the corgi site, it was the first one that came up with a pic for the boiler buddy, i would never buy anything from them direct either they`re too expensive, nor didi tell him to. Just posted merely as a reference for the heating side. The scale reducer he had fitted was a cheap fitting, and a good quality water softener is a good option if he lives in a hard water area. I appologise for the vagueness of my first post, had the daughter all day, 9 years old. Need i say more?

 

[kevplumb]

 

[rajpatel50]

any more recommendations on a good quality water softener?

Also I'm guessing I need it to be the same size as the one i currently have and the same style (push-fit) otherwise this will mean extra plumbing right?

If I'm not in a hard water area, do we need the de-scaler at all? Would you always recommend having one?

 

[kevplumb]

combimate

 

[Strachan]

If you`re not in a hard water area it`s not a must. The plate heat exchangers clog up over time, i install alot of vaillant combis at the moment, the dhw heat exchangers on them are very easy to remove. So descaling or replacing would be an easy job if it ever happened.

 

[ChrisR]

None of these inline devices apart from the Combimate is a water softener. Whether they do anything at all is open to question.

As far as the leaking one is concerned. SUE the b@st@rds!

 

[namsag]

Major problem with green scale masters. They have been pin holing for at least 3 years some even split where the pipe fits in resulting in full bore leaks, and they must know about it as my local plumb centre return a lot each month most people have stopped fitting them.

 

[corgigazza]

these ones are much better made from metal

http://www.discountedheating.co.uk/shop/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Scalemaster_1023.html
been to loads of the the green ones leaking.

 

[rajpatel50]

Thanks for your replies. We're gonna try and get the gold (non-push fit) one fitted

 

[rajpatel50]

Just out of interest, anyone know what could cause these pinhole leaks in the green pushfit scalemaster? I would have thought you need quite a bit of force to do this (we did upgrade to a 50mm blue pipe for our cold water supply)