To power flush or not to...

[ellis hill]

Hello All

I'm looking for an honest opinion! We have just moved into a house with a big radiator sludge problem. The sludge has got round into the boiler and damaged the heat exchanger. My problem is this, have been advised to have power flush done and magnetic valve fitted on the one hand. On the other have been told this is waste of time and removing the individual rads one by one and flushing with garden hose is just as effective(also £600 cheaper). So before the boiler gets repaired, which one works best?

 

[stevetheplumber]

eithr one works untill 5 years ago no one had heard of powerflush and we managed then
machine flush is less disruptive

 

[RTPS]

Yes, power flush is the way to go, spend the money and get it done

 

[Puddle]

Well if £600 cheraper,would get all rads taken off wall and flushed through in garden,flush all pipework through
But then add a system cleaning chemical and run hot for a week and then just flush though system again,leaving rads on than add inhibitor,this last bit can come out the £600 and at the end you will have a far cleaner system than power flushing
Power flushing has its place but the above way is the best
When they remove the radiators first time round get them to fit a good outlet/flushing through point in the system,not a drain cock but a tee with full bore ball a fix valve ,this will allow good flush through at end of works

 

[WHPES]

Taking off radiators and flushing with a hosepipe is most effective but you still need to flush out th pipework and boiler.

£600 for a power flush! Who did you ask for a quotation? British Gas?

Wish my customers would be happy to part with £600 for one!

Magnetic filter is a good idea - see the thread on Magnacleans.

 

[moogwai]

Havin set up my business powerflushing 2 years ago i would say definately powerflush it,but £600 seems very steep. How many radiators do you have? and i can give you a guide line on how much you be looking at from a company local to you.
With takin and just flushing out the rads in the garden you won't get rid of any major blockages within the rad! leaving the rad in situ and running the boiler as you powerflush,as the powerflush chemical works better when hot along with using a vibraclean to vibrate the rad the will get rid of any stubborn blockages within the rad.
Also using a infa red thermomter you can check temperature of rad to make sure rad is hot all over indicating the rad is free from debris,and there are water testers to make sure that the system water is as clean as your tap water.
Adding a magnaclean filter aswell as system protector(which needs to be topped up yearly) will reduce the chance of sludge ever building up in your system again.
It's a long drawn out process and will take a minimum of 5 hours from start to finish. But if done correctly you will see the results instantly and you will also be able to view the sludge which has left the system.

 

[newbie1]

average house boiler and 7 rads 300.00 max any more and they are greedy *******s

 

[ellis hill]

Thanks for the replies all. I should have clarified that the quote includes the fitting of a magnaclean valve in the system. Powerflush does seem to be least messy/time consuming option.

 

[moogwai]

average house boiler and 7 rads 300.00 max any more and they are greedy *******s

agreed,i'm actually cheaper than that!! and to supply and fit a magnaclean £130.

 

[Winston]

Power flushing can cause problems to on a old system.