Cleaning a Boiler Mate Coil

John@Reliable_9

It never seems to work for me. (I’m impatient) Usually pull and power wash, will have to try your way again. And give it time to work. It’s funny how many times if you ask owners of those blue tanks “how’s the HW “ you get we run out all the time but like you said other ones never a problem. Thanks John

[Deleted User]

Cleaning A Boiler Mate Coil

I have a 6 year old, 40 gallon Boiler Mate. Hot water production has slowed waaaaay down, so I assume the coil is limed up. A gallon of the factory recommended ice machine cleaner (phosphoric acid solution), would cost me about $80. (Alaska). I can buy many gallons of vinegar for much less than that. Would a strong vinegar solution do any good, or would it be a waste of time? I don't have time to pull the coil itself right now, to pressure wash or anything.
Thanks

John@Reliable_9

Only six years?

Consider this, if water quality is that bad cleaning the inside of coil really wouldn’t help.
I say this due to that side of system is closed and what you need to remove would be on tank side. The only way to do this is removal of coil. But before that I would look for a bad thermostat, pump, zone valve or mixing valve. Hope this helps John@Reliable

ScottMP

John

We have cleaned numerous amtrol coils on the tank side, with good results.

As per manufactures instructions we use a nicol safe ice machine cleaner. Drain the tank and flush, fill back up to cover the coils, add in the cleaner and allow to sit for half hour or so. Drain flush and drain again. Seems to clean that tighly wound coil.

Hhhmmmm, I never seem to have this problem with Super-Stors, Buderus or Viesmmann tanks. Guess thats another reason why we Don't install Amtrolls. Thats and the 1" of insulation and plastic bladder that leaks.

Scott



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Brian_19

amtrol cleaning

I have quick way to do it with out removing the coil or cutting pipes. Shut off the water and drain the tank. Disconnect the union on top of the heater. Get a piece of 1/4" copper tubing or a 30" lava supply. Get what ever connections are needed to connect one end to a garden hose. Crimp the other end of the pipe so the water comes out under high velocity. Just insert the tubing in the top outlet and blast off the sediment from the coil. I also bend the bottom of the tubing so I can clean the sides of the coil. Keep the drain valve open on the bottom of the tank.

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Unknown

I agree with John

You may simply have a flow problem related to the pump or captive air in the top of the inverted coil. Try purging the coil first to see if that improves things. Also if the aquastat well or Smart Control sensor is not inserted to the right height in the copper well you may experience difficulties. Hope this helps.

Glenn Stanton

Burnham Hydronics

J.C.A._3

I've had good luck,

With Brians method also. The only thing that makes it go a bit faster is to heat the coil before hitting it with the cold water. The "crud" drops right out and a few flushes later, the effluent is almost clear.

If you want to know what the 'crud" is, take a sample of the water off of the first flush and have it anaylized. (be warned, some of this stuff is pretty disgusting!)

I handed a sample to the town water dept. where I used to work and they had it screened. Made their treatment adjustments and the time between flushes seemed to increase a bit.

I've also replaced MANY with different brands after the liner has given out. Personally, I find the smooth coil types work just a bit better than finned tube models. JMHO! Chris

oil-2-4-6-gas

do you have a pressure reducing valve on the main coldwater line-- if your water pressure is too high you will notice a similar problem ---check the water pressure with a gage

hr

Some more suggestions

Check the incoming water hardness, and get a feel for their hot water useage. I'd bet the coil is limed up on the outside. Running real high boiler temperature ( commonly done to increase output) will really attract the hardness to the coil.

This one petrified in about a years time in a high DHW load home. The owner was a Utah Jazz center, and at 7'4" it took a lot of hot water to shower that ole boy, and his classic car collection

Wouldn't hurt to put a pressure gauge across the pump to get an accurate flow rate through the coil.

hot rod

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Scott25

total agreement

I wonder how Carl Malone heats his water in LA????

Looks like you have a nailed it again hotrod. Reverse solubility is the key and the insulation factor works on the inside and the out!!!

Jed_2

That's not an SC-5000 coil

It might help to replace the coil with the SC-5000 coil. Much better spacing through the coil windings.

Jed

ScottMP

so the manufacture

provides a different coil for poor water conditions ?

Why not just install that coil in every tank, or would that cost to much ?

Scott

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Jed_2

Scott

No, that's the current standard coil in all Classic and Premier Series Boilermates. The one pictured is the old design from a few years back,where,yes,loading,
flowthrough, and clogging were issues. The SC-5000 coil has much better performance.

Jed

hr

Doesn't matter

how tightly or loosly the coill is wound, thet layer of scale will hamper the heat transfer regardless.

I read somewhere it only takes a few thousands of build up to really start impeeding heat transfer. The fins count for a lot of the transfer surface, as they scale, or plug the performance slips.

Wider spacing was supposed to "shed" build up better as the coils expand and contract from wide temperature swings. But of course you need a longer HX to pack in the same amount of sq. footage in a wider spaced coil bundle.

I'm not a fan of finned coils of FP hx in hard water conditions. they seem to need more maintenance than, say, a tank in tank type HX.

hot rod

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Jed_2

Agreed, HR

And a smooth SS coil is probably better than a finned coil for those circumstances. Every HO can't put in water softeners(along with Iron Out), I guess. But, I was just pointing out the difference between the pictured coil and the current design, which is counter-flow also. There are a great many Amtrol Boilermates out there, so I was just offering an option for improvement for a reasonable cost. I will question the Amtrol Rep about the SC-5000's resistance to scaling. It is coated, however, I can't remember what it's properties are.

Regards,

Jed