I've a Baxi Bermuda back boiler that's coming up to its twentieth birthday. It's now waking me up in the morning with its banging and rattling.
It's a vented, thermo-syphon hot water and pumped heating (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).
Every few years I turn off all the radiators and drain it down at the boiler. I fill the boiler with a de-scaler solution by the drain tap at the boiler using a funnel and hose and fire up the boiler. I leave it a couple of hours, flush out the boiler and re-fill the system, adding a corrosion inhibitor. That normally stops it banging for a couple of years, this time it's only lasted since last Summer.
Any suggestions as to how I can improve the system? I guess it won't be long before I need to replace it, but I'd like to keep it a little longer if I can.
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Assuming it cast iron, it wont be long before the seal between the two castings is on its way out.
I would change this system this summer, given that gas boilers will be outlawed, prices are climbing I would jump quickly. I intend to replace this year.
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Ours is less than 10 years old and started kettling a couple of months ago. The plumber diagnosed gunge in the header tank having being drawn into the system. This had occurred when another plumber had part drained the system to fit a towel radiator without cleaning out the header tank first.
Sure enough the header had a lot of gunge remaining on the bottom so I cleaned it out. The plumber then stuck in a system cleaner, turned up the pump and ran the system in reverse for about an hour. He then restored the settings and all has been well since. No need (yet) for a power flush.
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I had a similar problem 20+ years ago.
A neighbour a few doors up has a son with a small plumbing business.
He phoned me with 2 suggestions
1) Header tank
2) Pipes are bracketed to walls - maybe brackets loose/ broken.
1) Header tank was empty as the valve that regulates the flow was stuck. Cleaned the tank and added a bucket of water.
2) Found a broken bracket and did as I was told - packed the pipe and wall with wood and newspaper.
Problem solved - he was 1/2 hour or so the next day and fitted a new float and checked other bits - problem solved whatever it was.
Still have the same header tank (plastic) but a new cold water cistern 3 years ago as the old steel one was weeping, not quite leaking.
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My wall mounted Baxi which heats radiators and, via a coil in the copper cylinder hot water, started kettling last year. Not bad enough to thump/bang still less cut out, but definitely sounded as though it was on the cusp of boiling. Turned it down a notch and it's been OK since.
In the past we've had full on bang/boil/cut out scenario. The first was due to a blockage of iron oxides stopping the header tank keeping the system full. The second was a fault on the boiler where it wasn't calling the pump on when it fired - dry solder on a circuit board.
Worth checking for other things as well a sludge/scale.
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When will gas boilers be otlawed and what are we supposed to install instead? Some alternatives, such as heat pumps, sound as if they will be hugely expensive. Are there likely to be government grants?
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Don't panic. Only in new builds, possibly from 2025, not yet confirmed anyway.
www.boilerguide.co.uk/articles/gas-boiler-ban-2023
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Very informative, thanks.
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Central heating boiler kettling - Zero
