Pumped water - particles of plastic

[silklink]

I fitted a Salamander RHP50 (Whole House) pump about 6 months ago, following all the instructions, etc.

The Pump seemed to be working well, but few days ago I started getting what looked at first to be a grey/black sludge in the water. It now seems as though this is particles of plastic - I get tiny bits of black plastic, some like plastic thread

It happened when my wife was running a bath and I heard the pipework making a weird noise. She said that she had the cold water on trickle, so at first I thought maybe that the trickle was just enough to trigger the pump but of course the tap would have restricted the flow

When I came to fill a basin a bit later (same bathroom), a load of grey/black water came out. The same happened when I ran just the hot tap in the other bathroom

Since then I have been getting particles of plastic from the hot water taps - some days worse than others

I know there are filters on the inlet side of the pump, so this can only be coming from the outlet of the pump side of the system

It happened on a night that the heating had started up and, maybe a red herring, I wondered if this might have anything to do with it, although I can's see how

Any ideas?

 

[Gray0689]

It sounds like the water was low in cold water tank and drawing in the bits that was left in tank when it was drilled could he very wrong but worth a look to check how dirty bottom of tank is

 

[silklink]

Hi - thanks for the response

I wondered that at first but like I said, there are in-line filters to the inlet side of the pump. Also, it is coming only out of the hot tap

Thinking this through a bit more, I'm now thinking that the heating is playing a part. Here's the theory: I have an older system so the hot water is gravity fed and I don't have a tank stat yet (was thinking of getting one). So, when the heating is not on the boiler gets as hot as its own stat and switches off which is enough to heat the water sufficiently. When the heating is on, the rads make more of a demand on the boiler and so it goes on longer - and the gravity feed feeds longer and the hot water gets hotter

I'm now thinking that I might need to invest in an inline mechanical valve to work with a tank stat to shut off the gravity flow when the hot water tank is hot enough

Does that make sense?

 

[WHPES]

Could be a failure of your copper cylinder. If it is you need to take prompt action as if fresh water gets into your heating circuit, then your radiators and boiler will start rapidly corroding.

Are you getting any discharge from your overflows? If so, check which one it is

Turn off the water supply to the cisterns and don't draw off any water from them (ideally if you go out for the day). If the level in the highest tank has dropped, then your cylinder is leaking internally.


Alternatively it could be the pump itself. Why was the pump installed in the first place? There must have been a problem before?

 

[Gray0689]

Them you have probably wrecked pump should not be run with water above 60c really

 

[silklink]

Thanks for the responses

WHPES: The pump was fitted to increase water pressure and provide for a mixer shower. Can't see that particles of plastic would end up in the hot water tank though?

I'm fearing damage to the pump now :{

So, does anyone on here have access to a Mistral (M11 B I think is etched on the plate) oil boiler schematic? Or at least advice where the hot and cold feeds are likely to be. I'll start to sketch out the pipes with a view to putting a motorised valve on the hot water heating side of things.

Given that the pump still works I might be able to salvage it for a few months if I fix the underlying problem