British Gas and their fascination with Power Flush...

[asadm]

Thanks SimonG. At risk of sounding like someone who is looking to hear what he wants to hear, I am struggling to reconcile this. If the drain down and inhibitor isn't part of an annual service, isn't sludge the logical conclusion? For instance, if BG have been maintaining a system for 10 years on this basis, is it not almost certainly going to be affected by sludge? Finally, if an average consumer is paying for a maintenance service, does this seem like an acceptable omission? Surely, they don't expect us mere mortals to understand the implications of this and have this done by a separate plumber but pay them for everything else....or perhaps they do?

 

[stoker122]

A full drain down and refill is not required any way. A sample of water can be tested (if the type of inhibitor is know) to check for the active ingredient. If this is low inhibitor can be added without draining down by injecting it into a rad.
This is not required as part of an annual service, it is just best practice.
We offer our customers this as an extra to the service.
If the boiler was only recently fitted and was installed along with a power flush, there may be unresolved issues causing the sludging.

 

[stoker122]

BG is a money making machine, not the benchmark service many folk still believe.
Why warn you early when they can charge you later?

 

[Ray Stafford]

If the drain down and inhibitor isn't part of an annual service, isn't sludge the logical conclusion?

No.

In fact, it would probably make it worse (the drain down part).

The key is to start with a clean system, with inhibitor in, and then to prevent the loss of the inhibited water, or the ingress of either air, or new water containing dissolved air. A magnetic filter helps a lot by getting rid of any residual rubbish in the system, and trapping the relatively small amount of sludge that will form in even a perfect system.

All water contains a degree of dissolved oxygen, which is relevant in the formation of sludge deposits. However, any given volume of water has a finite amount of air dissolved in it, which can only create a finite amount of sludge. Constant replacement of system water (with the fresh oxygen it brings) is the worst possible thing for encouraging sludge to build up.

It is desirable to test the system water for inhibitor periodically, but even that is often impractical, since all the chemical manufacturers use different formulations, and there is no unified test which will pick them all up - therefore you have a very strong chance of a false negative.

Some large scale landlords specify that only a single manufacturers inhibitor may be used in their properties, to deal with this point.

 

[Howsie]

Careful Ray, you're starting to sound like you know what you're talking about.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Careful Ray, you're starting to sound like you know what you're talking about.

Can't be having that. People might start expecting me to work for a living...

 

[asadm]

Can't be having that. People might start expecting me to work for a living...

Thanks for all the help guys. The conclusion I am starting to reach is that BG possibly have no case to answer and I should stop sobbing and accept that a Power Flush was necessary....

 

[TBServices]

Thanks for all the help guys. The conclusion I am starting to reach is that BG possibly have no case to answer and I should stop sobbing and accept that a Power Flush was necessary....

Unfortunately so, as much as I love bashing BG, I have to say, in this instance they've done nothing wrong. There may be a problem in your heating system that's leading to sludge, which ought to be checked out.

 

[Howsie]

Thanks for all the help guys. The conclusion I am starting to reach is that BG possibly have no case to answer and I should stop sobbing and accept that a Power Flush was necessary....

You're better off spending your money with your local guy!

 

[bewsh]

Ye to be fair, no company will drain down and add inhibitor on an annual service. And their T&C's will be pretty bullet proof. That's what happens when people don't read the small print, and we're all guilty of not reading T&C's!