Viessmann WB2B Heat Exchanger Cleaning.

Viess

So has anyone cleaned a WB2B Viessmann heat exchanger lately and what did it look like? That leads me to ask how often should one be cleaned? Viessmann claim they are a self cleaning unit. Thanks Viess.

SpeyFitter

Vitodens cleaning

The Vitodens will typically "turd" up fairly similarly to the Giannoni heat exchanger as they are both water tubes with tight fitting gaps between the coils and the impurities do not have as straight of a path out of the exchanger as other designs like fire tubes, or IBC's downfiring water tube. The Vitodens 200 IS a cleaner burning boiler, but they still produce mouse turds that need to be cleaned. Your maintenance schedule however will be dicatated typically after your first heating season where you see how it looks and set up a schedule from there to clean/maintain it regularly.

In extreme cases with the Vitodens I have heard of the condensate trap plugging up and the heat exchanger filling up with condensate which caused the spark igniter to short out. But this could happen in extreme cases with most heat exchangers that are not maintained. The Vitodens is quite easy to service, and Viessmann even makes a tool kit that has all the tools neccessary to take apart their Vitodens boilers (I have one).

Citrisurf 3050, while a bit pricey and sometimes hard to find, is recommended by Viessmann as a chemical for cleaning their Vitodens exchanger and I've used it before and it does a beautiful job. 

meplumber

Concur with Scott.

One note. I use Orange Blast as I can't find Citisurf in my area. They seem to be similar. The point is not to use a harsh chemical and never use metal bristles to clean the HX. In fact, my favorite to use on mod/cons is a toilet brush.



If you are not a professional, then I do not recommend doing this yourself.

zacmobile

credit card

I use an old credit card to get the crud from between the coils, I knew they would be useful for something.

Viess

Heat XC

Thanks fellas.

Viess

Tool Kit?

Where can a guy buy the tool kit? Thanks Viess.

SpeyFitter

Your local Viessmann Dealer

Your local Viessmann wholesaler should be able to order them in if they don't have them. It's a little black plastic that says Viessmann on it and I think it was in the $100-130 range-ish.

CMadatMe

Less Then

Scott the kit is less then what you posted unless somone is making a nice mark up. I sell them at the published net price in the price book. Don't look to make money on the kit. I even run a promo from time to time where you get it for free or I discount a boiler to cover your cost on the tool kit.

croydoncorgi

Operating temperature is critical!

If you run a condensing boiler within its 'comfort zone' (ie. with a low Flow temperature and with the Return below 130F whenever possible, the stream of condensate will wash the HX clear all the time.



But if you run it 'dry', it  WILL crud up - because there's nothing to wash it away!