- Hey guys, how's it going.
Welcome to this Plumberparts.co.uk video.
Today we're gonna be looking at a cost effective solution
for your Combi Boiler if you're in a hard water area.
So what we're gonna be doing is fitting this Combimate
on this Combi Boiler and I'm gonna show you
how it's done.
Please subscribe, and also there's a competition
to win some in this video.
Hold tight.
Plumberparts.co.uk home of find your plumber.
Whilst I've got a few minutes it's a good idea
that we actually have a look
and see what the Combiphos pellets do.
How they work is, they attract the hard water
like magnesium and calcium particles, and they coat them
so they don't actually cling to any
of the internal components of the heating system
or any of the water system that you've got.
This is especially important if you've got a Combi Boiler
like the one we've got here.
They've got what's called a plate heat exchanger in them,
which means the waterways are very narrow.
If calcium and magnesium, which is effectively scale,
can build up in those areas, then you're gonna get
a problem with the plate heat exchanger in that boiler
sooner or later.
What Combimates do, is completely eradicate the problem
that you could have for that boiler, in a cost effective
one stop shop solution.
So what we're gonna do on this boiler here,
is we are going to fit our Combimate, nice and low,
out of the way.
We're gonna try to keep it out of the way
of this plug socket here as well.
But what I'm gonna do once we finish this job
is just give the electrician a buzz as well,
just to make sure that that's all okay.
So there's a few steps that I wanna take you through
where I show you how to fit one of these Combimates.
They're really really simple and easy to fit.
But if you follow the instructions that come with 'em,
you'll be absolutely fine.
They are set up for 22mm and for 15mm, so make sure
you buy the right one.
But today we're gonna be installing it
on this 15mm copper pipe behind us here.
So let's have a quick look firstly at the installation
we've got here already.
And then ascertain and plan exactly
how we're gonna do this job.
So the four pipes we can see up here
going from left to right are the hot out,
the cold feed in, and then the flow and return
for the heating system.
If we look down we can see we've got a valve
and also an anti-hammer device on our cold feed in.
So we know that we can isolate the cold nice and easily,
and then when we go further down we can see that our cold
is attached to our filling loop.
So what I'm gonna do, is the cold elbow that you see there,
we're gonna sweat that off and change that over
for a straight coupling.
And then where we were once going across
on this cold feed here, we're gonna pop an elbow there
and point that downwards as well.
Then we're gonna set our two pipes
over the top of the flow and return,
and then go further down to where
we're actually going to fit the Combimate.
What we need to make sure of, when you fit a Combimate,
make sure like I said, look at the instructions
but keep it 450mm away from any heat source.
Because if it does get too hot, the Combiphos Pellets
inside, that we'll talk about in a minute,
will actually degrade quicker.
You don't wanna be changing your pellets over
before you have to, just because you put it
right next to a heat source.
So now that we know what we're gonna do with the pipe work,
I'm just gonna show you the Combimate itself.
The first thing you see when you open up the top of the box
is a soldering warning, okay?
Sometimes the plastic material may crack
after prolonged contact with soldering flux.
The acetal body of this Combimate in particular
must under no circumstances remain
bearing any trace of any type of soldering flux.
The scale reducer must not be installed in airing cupboards,
where the normal ambient temperature exceeds 30 degrees C.
So number one, read the instructions.
Don't do what most people do
and don't read the instructions.
Read the instruction on everything that you do.
And if you read the instructions on this,
you'll find out that really you don't wanna get any flux
near the Combimate whatsoever.
Secondly as well, Combimates don't really like to be
in hot environments.
So if you're gonna put them in an airing cupboard
make sure that the ambient temperature
isn't over 30 degrees C.
Purely because the warmer the ambient temperature,
the sometimes the quicker that the pellets can dissolve.
These pellets should last easily a year.
But you don't want to dissolve your pellets too quickly
purely because you didn't read the instructions,
and put it in a really hot environment.
And the same goes for the 450mm rule, for keeping it away
from hot things like this radiator behind me.
Or keeping it under the boiler, cos obviously heat rises.
And therefore it won't be so warm.
We've got our Combiphos starter pack pellets.
But you can buy the replacement ones online easily.
Make sure when you buy refills for this stuff
that you buy the official proper pellets.
We've got our little loosening tool for the nut
on the top of the Combimate.
So I'll show you that in a minute.
We've got some bedtime reading.
Make sure you read the installation guide.
I will be in a sec.
And if were open this up we've actually got
the Combimate itself.
Let's have a quick closer look at the Combimate now.
Firstly, non-return valve is fitted on the inlet as standard
there a non-return valve inside every one of these,
so if you've got a question right now
about non-return valves on these it's on the inlet, okay
so you don't have to worry about that.
Secondly, really cool intuitive design here.
When you wanna take the cover off you push these two
bits in, and there's two valves on the back that will
automatically shut the water off,
so when you come to change the pellets
you don't have water going everywhere.
So then guys, I've got my Combimate
out of the box and everything.
I'm just gonna pop it to one side now,
because we're not gonna need it
for this next section of the job.
Well not for a few minutes anyway.
First thing I'm gonna do now is switch the boiler off,
make sure that the boiler is electrically isolated.
And also switch the water off, okay?
Turn the water off.
It's easy for us because we've got a valve up there,
a nice lever valve.
Someone thought about this job and put that in, thank you.
But often you'll find that your cold water valve
is somewhere else, okay.
So make sure that you know where that is beforehand.
Make sure once you've turned the valve off
and you've got the water off that you open the hot tap,
open every hot tap in the house,
and make sure there's no water coming out.
Because if there is water coming out,
you won't be able to do any soldering
and you won't be able to move onto the next stage.
Also for this job we're gonna have to be really careful
about getting water on that plug.
I don't wanna die today.
So what I'm gonna do is find a way of making sure that we
don't get any water on there or any splash.
Because even once we've got the water off here,
those two pipes run up that way,
there's still gonna be a pipe's worth of water in there
when I cut those pipe in a second.
So I've got to make sure we don't get
any water on them plugs.
So, watch me cut the pipes, cut the bits out
that we need to do, and then we'll move onto the next stage.
(upbeat jazz music)
Right, so now that we've got our cold pipe tail,
we now know that we can do a little bit of design work.
I'm just gonna whip this off here,
we've protected our plug under there
from getting soaking wet.
A bit of forethought helps, doesn't it.
What we need to do is then figure out roughly
where we are going to instal our Combimate.
We're far enough away from this radiator.
I'm not too worried about these pipes here.
I think we'll just pop our Combimate just here,
like so, and then we know where we have to pipe up to.
Now looking at the back of the Combimate, you'll see
it's very easy to pop these off.
If you just press these two here,
this front cover will pop off like so,
and then that'll expose the four screw holes
that you'll be measuring up in a minute.
So then, we're gonna measure down 450mm,
and just gonna check this one here, perfect.
No problems there whatsoever.
So now we know that we're far enough away
from the heat source so there won't be any problems.
Emma's just got home, she's not very well,
but she's gonna make me a cuppa tea.
Actually nah I don't fancy a cuppa tea, Emma.
Nah I'm alright thank you.
So as always, do the basics first.
Still got a little bit of water coming out here.
But just do the basics first.
Make sure that whatever you're gonna work on
you're gonna make level, so we're just gonna
run our plumber rod across here, we've got our level there.
And then we know that we can sit our Combimate just here.
What I'm gonna do, is I'm just gonna get my spirit level,
measure down from the centre line of this pipe.
Cos it'd be nice if we could just had to do
a little set on that.
(upbeat jazz music)
Right, and then we've got our holes marked out ready to go.
All I need to do is drill and plug, screw this up,
and then we can get our pipes measured up and popped in.
It's also worth saying at this point that we've just popped
a scanner on here to make sure that we aren't gonna
nick any wires, and there's nothing down here apparently,
so let's hope I don't die in the next few seconds.
♫ I pray to God, my soul to keep.
Right, so we've temporarily got this beast in,
what I'm gonna do is just clean my pipe down now,
get all this pipework cleared up.
Right so there we go.
I've got the preliminary pipework in,
now we know exactly where we need to go to.
I'm gonna solder up, as you can see down here
I've got a little drain-off,
so if we get any problems later on
or anything like that or you wanna drain this lot out,
you can drain this little leg here.
And then I can show you how you can put
your Combiphos pellets in there,
and actually how one of these works.
And then, I can tell you how you can win one of them.
(upbeat jazz music)
Right then, so we've got our Combimate installed now,
we've got all these nicely soldered up,
all nicely cleared off.
We've ensured that even if there was the slightest flecks
of flux or anything like that going on here,
we've taken that off as well.
There's not gonna be any problems there.
We've also been nice, we've thought about anyone else
who's ever gonna come here.
We've put a drain off here, so anyone can turn
that valve off there,
and then drain everything off from here
if they leave the Combimate in.
And then they can take this out.
So now what I'm gonna do quickly is just quickly
flush this through and make sure it's all okay.
Then I'm gonna commission the Combimate for you.
So the first thing we're gonna do
is screw on our dome again.
Make sure that our little cap at the top is at the top.
Also if you're doing full system protection,
that means that you're putting this on the cold feed
into the whole house, then leave this shelf out.
If you're doing single appliance protection,
like we are now.
So we've got a single appliance being the boiler
and the hot water system.
What we're gonna do is pop this shelf in,
and that means later on when we put the pellets on,
we're only gonna put approximately 400 grammes
worth of pellets.
Meaning half of this.
Those pellets should last a year,
which shows you how long the pellets can last overall.
A refill, if you buy a refill bag, could easily last you
a couple of years.
So, let's pop this in now.
(upbeat jazz music)
Also note the many different combinations
in which the Combimate can be fitted.
In order to keep the filler plug upright
it may be necessary to rotate the dome relative to the base,
and relocate the divider tray.
So we've got our Combimate installed,
we've got the water back on, we've tested for leaks,
it's all fine there, and now we know that the hot water side
of this system is protected by Combimate.
That means that we're not gonna get any problems
with the plate heat exchanger on this boiler anymore,
and it also means that the internal components
of the hot water side of this system
will also be protected from scale.
So how would you guys like the opportunity to win one?
We've got four here to give away.
I'm gonna give away one on YouTube.
If you're a YouTube viewer all you need to do is click
the like button on this video, and also tell us...
Boom boom boom.
If you're on Twitter all you need to do is follow
and share this post.
If you're a Facebook follower, exactly the same thing.
And if you're on Instagram as well, exactly the same thing.
We'll pick a winner on the last day of June 2017.
So if you're watching after then,
by all means like the video, and give us some love,
but I'm afraid these will have already been given away.
Also, I need to make a small confession.
The fact that I opened up this one here,
to do some filming with, and that means
the Cistermeister tamperproof seal has been broken.
This one here, I'm gonna put some extra goodies in,
and that is gonna go to a YouTube viewer.
You guys on YouTube, I love ya.
Right, so guys if you need anymore help
or anymore information please do comment
in the comment section below.
You can also email us at info@plumberparts.co.uk
Or you can contact Combimate or Cistermeister
and ask them any questions.
Hopefully we've covered most of the basics here.
I've fitted loads of these.
To be honest I've never had a problem with them.
Alright guys, so everything's done now, I'm just gonna
pop these in the van, remember to enter that competition,
there's four of these to give away,
and remember to hold tight.
See ya later.
(upbeat music)