- Messages
- 25
I don't work now due to being ancient. I looked at a 'Range cooker' fired on kero. It had a slow leak that turned into a bad leak in a month!
It had a welded fabricated boiler. I've seen such heat exchangers leak within 7 years from new. No wonder the Potterton heating production manager said to me long ago when I complained about a stupid fault on one of their little gas boilers with sections of cast iron sealed with 'O' rings that squeezed out because the recesses had been machined with no attention paid to retention of the rings. (I had to make stainless interference fit tubes to retain the rings as the sections were pulled together).
The Potterton chap was a 'nice' , but even so was prepared to knock me by saying, what boiler have you got then? I said a BOA !!!! He smartly replied - now you're talking about a BOILER!
At one time when the heatslaves and their similar fabricated steel boilers became popular due to the cost I suspect, was when we took notice that cast iron sectional boilers beat all the welded boilers, hands down for longevity it was apparent that although the cast sectional boilers cost more initially they were more of what was I would say an investment.
Might it be the same today re condensing boilers? I never though that I myself would ever buy a postage stamp boiler but I did end up buying a dumped Gloworm HXi that cost me £5.50. Ferroli would not sell me a propane conversion kit because they said they had hassle from fitters that got it wrong when using their kits. I said we converted many Town Gas appliances to Nat gas long ago in my teens without any issues. That was most probably because we had the very best tuition from those who knew exactly what they were doing and so after a proud and not least technical upbringing passed that expertise onto us lot!
I won't say the name but boilers with aluminium HX seemed about as good as the fabricated steel ones. Stainless seemed to be not a bad choice for Hx's hence my choice of the postage stamp Gloworm with it's stainless heat exchanger. It's been running in my caravan 6 years now without us having to spend a penny on it and another plus was the Gas valve was changes in two minutes to burn Propane just by a slotted screw adjustment as per the technical instructions. A combustion test followed to show the efficiency was correct.
The only grouse is that with all these newfangled fuel saving burners the electronics seem to be well over the top re their complexity. If any engineer is not conversant with a meter then he must quickly learn to be electrically competent with one!
I shudder to think what this farmer will do with his newfangled condensing oil boiler when and if he buys one because he prefers to operate his heating system with a light switch
instead of a programmer! The range he bought 26 years ago has done well before it leaked but I think that's terrible regarding it as an investment. He might well choose to pay an arm and a leg for a boiler who's name begins with 'G', that is green because it looks right in Wales and after all isn't green what everybody is doing these days?
His brother tells me they fit them outside 'these days you know! It came to mind that I was taught as a young man to look for an unused coal house that would house a pressure jet oil boiler and then it's name would be 'boiler house'. I may well be wrong when I say, I would prefer a boiler house because you cannot hang your washing out above an external boiler. I would also ask are these external boilers the right choice where it rains most of the time? Will the farmer have an umbrella ready for the heating chap who has to sort a fault out on that external boiler when it P.....es with rain in the dark to boot? Choice of boiler is of the utmost importance so please do say what you think......... There must be many of you out there who I would wager, would not dream of buying a green boiler fitted in the elements?
It had a welded fabricated boiler. I've seen such heat exchangers leak within 7 years from new. No wonder the Potterton heating production manager said to me long ago when I complained about a stupid fault on one of their little gas boilers with sections of cast iron sealed with 'O' rings that squeezed out because the recesses had been machined with no attention paid to retention of the rings. (I had to make stainless interference fit tubes to retain the rings as the sections were pulled together).
The Potterton chap was a 'nice' , but even so was prepared to knock me by saying, what boiler have you got then? I said a BOA !!!! He smartly replied - now you're talking about a BOILER!
At one time when the heatslaves and their similar fabricated steel boilers became popular due to the cost I suspect, was when we took notice that cast iron sectional boilers beat all the welded boilers, hands down for longevity it was apparent that although the cast sectional boilers cost more initially they were more of what was I would say an investment.
Might it be the same today re condensing boilers? I never though that I myself would ever buy a postage stamp boiler but I did end up buying a dumped Gloworm HXi that cost me £5.50. Ferroli would not sell me a propane conversion kit because they said they had hassle from fitters that got it wrong when using their kits. I said we converted many Town Gas appliances to Nat gas long ago in my teens without any issues. That was most probably because we had the very best tuition from those who knew exactly what they were doing and so after a proud and not least technical upbringing passed that expertise onto us lot!
I won't say the name but boilers with aluminium HX seemed about as good as the fabricated steel ones. Stainless seemed to be not a bad choice for Hx's hence my choice of the postage stamp Gloworm with it's stainless heat exchanger. It's been running in my caravan 6 years now without us having to spend a penny on it and another plus was the Gas valve was changes in two minutes to burn Propane just by a slotted screw adjustment as per the technical instructions. A combustion test followed to show the efficiency was correct.
The only grouse is that with all these newfangled fuel saving burners the electronics seem to be well over the top re their complexity. If any engineer is not conversant with a meter then he must quickly learn to be electrically competent with one!
I shudder to think what this farmer will do with his newfangled condensing oil boiler when and if he buys one because he prefers to operate his heating system with a light switch
instead of a programmer! The range he bought 26 years ago has done well before it leaked but I think that's terrible regarding it as an investment. He might well choose to pay an arm and a leg for a boiler who's name begins with 'G', that is green because it looks right in Wales and after all isn't green what everybody is doing these days?
His brother tells me they fit them outside 'these days you know! It came to mind that I was taught as a young man to look for an unused coal house that would house a pressure jet oil boiler and then it's name would be 'boiler house'. I may well be wrong when I say, I would prefer a boiler house because you cannot hang your washing out above an external boiler. I would also ask are these external boilers the right choice where it rains most of the time? Will the farmer have an umbrella ready for the heating chap who has to sort a fault out on that external boiler when it P.....es with rain in the dark to boot? Choice of boiler is of the utmost importance so please do say what you think......... There must be many of you out there who I would wager, would not dream of buying a green boiler fitted in the elements?
