British Gas have just advised my daughter that her condensing combi-boiler is knackered as it is scaled up.
The tech told her that a "water scale filter" should have been installed at the same time as the boiler.
What did he mean?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

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more info pease

What are they quoting for including labour to fit one, it's a very simple DIY job and you can get them on ebay for around 80 quid,

What is the problem and make/model of the boiler.

Find out what exactly they recommend fitting.

Very Hard water is supersaturated with minerals (eg it contains minerals both dissolved in the water and in suspension). When it's heated in the boiler the minerals precipitate out to form scale. You can filter out the minerals in suspension but it's not possible to simply filter out something that's dissolved in the water. So a simple mechanical filter is only a partial solution.

Salt based water softners/ion exchange resin block based water filters go further and deal with the disolved dissolved minerals...but obviously they rely on you replacing the active chemicals (eg the salt, or resin filter) or they stop working.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa082403a.htm

Some can also reduce the water pressure if not sized correctly.

There are lots of magnetic and electronic devices on the market that also claim to convert the disolved minerals to a form that doesn't produce scale. Unfortunately there is no widely accepted scientific explanation for how these might work and very few independant field trials. If I remember correctly a Bath University study got some positive results and a study for the US Military got negative results. The manufactures use a lot of scientific words to convince you they operate on scientific principles but a lot of it is just nonsense speak.

http://www.chem1.com/CQ/magscams.html

I wouldn't trust a single word British Gas say, that's not to say it isn't scaled or sludged up.

We all know British Cash have done a deal with a certain "Hydroflow 38" anti scale gadget, and we also know their sales sharks are going to push them at every opportunity, whether you need one or not.

Having said all that I like the Hydroflow 38, and the biggest concern with the Intergas combination boiler I have just installed at home was indeed scale in the secondary pipework, so I have one being trialed.  

The only problem is, I will only know whether they work or not, if it doesn't scale up over the next 4-5 years, however you can be sure the world and his wife will know about it, if it doesn't work, assuming I'm still alive and kicking.  

Incidentally they can be purchased on eBay for around £80, against BG £200.00   just clip it on the cold feed to the boiler and plug it in, Wow !!!

I had a look at the Hydroflow 38 info. Wondered about this section..

http://www.ecmi.us/infowindows/loops.asp

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If you install the unit on a copper pipe how do you check for a hidden "loop"? I think you would have to cut the pipe temporarily

I'm an Intergas fan, no diverter valve to go wrong for a start, a very good product that beats anything on the market hands down.

How does the electric field get through the Farady cage formed by the copper water pipe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

or did he get his waters softened ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZwlD-Z0zmE&feature=related

Sorry been away a couple of days. Thanks for all your thoughts so far. The boiler is a Baxi 105e and the engineer said the heat exchanger was furred up with scale because this inline thingy wasn't fitted. The boiler intermittantly supplies hot water and the pressure runs very high and the radiator immediately below the boiler gets hot but all others only reach lukewarm temperatures. Do you thing changinng the heat exchanger might solve the problem?

I would advise you to get a good local Gas Safe Engineer in to check the simple things.
1- take the guts out of a hot tap and have a look for furring up.
2-Drain the C/H and see what the water that comes out is like.
3-Check the general state of the system e.g. pipe sizes feeding the rads.
That way you know what your up against before you go spending money on new parts or a new boiler bud.
While the system is drained they may also take off a couple of rad valves downstairs and see what they are like inside.
Its worth taking the time to find out the state of the system as a whole.