Radiator Expected Life Span

[architect1337]

Just after a bit of advice. My elderly father/mother in law had a pair of radiators fitted in April 2010 as both were leaking (pin hole). They came home day after Boxing Day to find water pouring through the ceiling. Upstairs, one of the new radiators was seen to be leaking badly from within the radiator itself i.e. not a joint or valve leak - actually out of the bottom left corner of the rad metalwork. They turned off the valve and this slowed down the leak to a drip. They have a gravity heating system (tank etc). The plumber who fitted the rad charged them about 100 quid plus VAT for each rad (plus labour) and bought the radiators from the local Plumb Centre. He did comment at the time that a power wash should be done as the water was very black but they chose not to.

The question is - should the radiator have failed so quickly due to corrosion or was it genuinely faulty. Scratching away at the bottom corner to remove the white coating showed the metal work to be black. Have any of you experienced such quick corrosion. I'm guessing the water would have to be very acidic to cause this sort of damage so quickly (nine months).

I have now told them not to be tight and get a power flush done but there is the obvious risk of this causing more damage if the pipework is not up to scratch. The house is reasonably old (about 60 years I would guess) but if this has caused two rads to fail and the replaced rad has also failed, either they have a lot of bad luck or it's likely they will have to replace all the rads after a power flush. What do you think?

[ecowarm]

It is in need of a power flush, I have seen rads fail that quick and manufacturers will not honor the warenty it rotted from the inside out!

only option or rip the whole lot out and start again

[mikegas]

Could the system also be badly designed and drawing air in and accelerating the corrosion process?

[Blackcatgas]

More likely it froze, expanded ,split the seem then thawed ,then leaked.

[ecowarm]

Yes agree mikegas and if I was powerflushing, diagnosing the problem is part of the service.

[mikegas]

Thanks eco i was just throwing it out there as i am still very much learning myself

[WHPES]

Probably a fault in the system, drawing fresh water in all the time (and losing inhibitor)

Assuming you have a F&E tank in the loft, is the level low enough (should stop filling when it is about 2" above the outlet at the bottom when cold)

[gas man]

as WHPES said system fault,most commonly low head installation or cavitation problems is the water red by any chance?

[architect1337]

Strangely the water is not sludge but is dark brown but clear at the edges (with red in there - difficult to say when it's embedded in the living room carpet!! poor sods) Iron? Air? Lethal mixture!? Fair point about rust but 9 months to destroy a radiator? Equally - I doubt if there is a rust inhibitor in the system - probably hasn't been looked at in years. I'll get a professional to look at the whole system on their behalf though once the insurance company has had a look.

[gas man]

the red/brown colour is a give away the waters being aerated this will cause rapid corrosion and destroy rads as your finding this is a system fault that needs further investigation

[tackleburger]

You will probably find the radiators were indeed faulty. That said you will probably get no-where pursueing the case. i say thius as the rest of them are probably much older and are still ok. There is a chance the boiler's heat exchanger is starting to corrode hence the orange colour. I would stick a couple of bottles of X400 in the system and run it for a week or so then drain down refill drain again and re-fill adding inhibitor then check it in a few months time. Power flushing is all well and good but the system is still working and heating so In my opinion is an unecessary expense at this stage. have a good look around the system especially around the pump and check for small leaks.

[FD Powerflow]

The system will need a cleaner ran through it, probably alongside a TF1 or magnaclean. Then dose with an appropriate inhibitor such as Fernox F1 Protector / X100.

If the system has pinholed the radiator then it wont be air ingress causing the problem, that my friend will be excess flux left in the system from the installer not using a cleaner, or from not using it properly.


Red iron oxide FeO3 is a good indicator of air ingress however as mentioned by a few of the lads on here and as mentioned its worth checking the system for leaks.

[gas man]

i have heard it all now lads no disrespect intended but the red colour is nothing to do with a pin holed heat exchanger or flux in the system its trough fresh water (and air)entering the system (aeration) on a gravity system the causes will be to low a head on the ch cwsc , or venting over constantly either trough bad design pump failing or over set or thermostat failed or as said a big leak some where if its causing the ball valve to run and constant fresh water going in