I was tidying up the boiler pipework on a bungalow I bought and plan to move into. Being a cheapskate, I considered keeping the Heat Group magnetic filter. It was like the old Magnacleans with offset plastic tails and I knew it would be messy and fiddly to fit, but although it seemed a bit pants, it did seem to work to some degree and wasn't leaking.
Today I got the pipework as tidy as humanly possible, considering I'm trying to keep the space under the boiler clear for a washing machine and needed to run the return to one side to allow the filter to fit without occuping the space that needs to stay clear. I loosened the tap-connector type nuts on the valves so I could check the compression joints were tight enough and reassembled. As the plastic threads always felt horrible, it was impossible to feel for crossed threads, but I was very very careful and stopped as soon as something felt more wrong than usual. One thread, with all the care possible, and even with the valve off the pipework and directly onto the plastic can, just would not screw on straight.
The next part took place much more calmly than the reader might initially imagine.
Having now wasted far too much time on this, I decided to make sure I would not waste any more time on this and wanted to force myself to buy a Spirotrap because at least they don't leak. I put the filter under the front wheel of my van, drove over it four times and turned off the engine.
The valve had come off and the can was a bit scratched. I moved the filter away from the van and tried to set fire to it with my torch.
The label burned off, but the main body stopped burning really very quickly. I then decided to drop large lumps of concrete on it. The first lump of concrete broke and the next one bounced but, after some perseverence, the lid clamp cracked and I managed to smash all the internal bits except the magnet. I was unable to break the main cannister, but decided the filter was sufficiently broken to go in the bin.
So why, when the filter can withstand being driven over by a diesel van, being set fire to, and (to some extent) having lumps of concrete dropped on it, were the threads SO BAD? A friend suggested the original installer may have damaged the threads when installing, but they looked undamaged (although they probably were not ever quite a BSP thread, hence not mating too well with the connectors on the valves).
I still haven't lost my sense of humour.
Today I got the pipework as tidy as humanly possible, considering I'm trying to keep the space under the boiler clear for a washing machine and needed to run the return to one side to allow the filter to fit without occuping the space that needs to stay clear. I loosened the tap-connector type nuts on the valves so I could check the compression joints were tight enough and reassembled. As the plastic threads always felt horrible, it was impossible to feel for crossed threads, but I was very very careful and stopped as soon as something felt more wrong than usual. One thread, with all the care possible, and even with the valve off the pipework and directly onto the plastic can, just would not screw on straight.
The next part took place much more calmly than the reader might initially imagine.
Having now wasted far too much time on this, I decided to make sure I would not waste any more time on this and wanted to force myself to buy a Spirotrap because at least they don't leak. I put the filter under the front wheel of my van, drove over it four times and turned off the engine.
The valve had come off and the can was a bit scratched. I moved the filter away from the van and tried to set fire to it with my torch.
The label burned off, but the main body stopped burning really very quickly. I then decided to drop large lumps of concrete on it. The first lump of concrete broke and the next one bounced but, after some perseverence, the lid clamp cracked and I managed to smash all the internal bits except the magnet. I was unable to break the main cannister, but decided the filter was sufficiently broken to go in the bin.
So why, when the filter can withstand being driven over by a diesel van, being set fire to, and (to some extent) having lumps of concrete dropped on it, were the threads SO BAD? A friend suggested the original installer may have damaged the threads when installing, but they looked undamaged (although they probably were not ever quite a BSP thread, hence not mating too well with the connectors on the valves).
I still haven't lost my sense of humour.
