Refurbish a 20 year old condensing boiler? If you have to read this twice, then you probably haven’t got a Kidd VHE.
Somewhere near Canterbury
Our subject of this blog is a 1990 Kidd Oil Model 1 unit in Canterbury, which had been ‘serviced’ in recent years by a contractor who was not familiar with the product, or condensers generally.
The condense drains were all completely blocked and full of shale deposits, causing damage to the upper part of the boiler and casing. This had probably gone unchecked for a number of years. As a result, the projected 30 yr lifspan had been cruelly truncated.
Economiser was suffering from not being cleaned
We advised the customer that for the price of a new Grant or Worcester unit – which are well made mass market units – we could refurbish his Kidd boiler. Having seen the build quality of this unit, and having had 20 years reliable service from it, he opted for the rebuild.
A naked Model 1 and a clothed Tim
A new ‘economiser’ was fabricated by Kidd boilers, together with a new flue. Although the old boiler was 20 yrs old, the new upper section fitted perfectly, because the design is fundamentally unchanged from its inception in 1981. To finish the job off, a new Sterling Kidd 40 series oil burner was fitted.
Old flue with blocked condense drain tube
New flue incorporating bends to slow down condensate to prevent splashing in the heat exchanger
We Powerflushed the radiator system, removed some copper based condensate tubing (still in parfect condition after 20 years), and fitted some modern Honeywell programmable thermostat controls in the house.
Our customer was thus equipped with a Kidd boiler virtually the same as a new one, to see him through the next few decades with ‘A’ rated efficiency.
As I often tell our customers, condensing boilers aren’t new technology, that is a myth created by politicians to try to take the credit for energy savings.
