I have a couple of radiators that are performing poorly due to a possible partial blockage of the return pipes. (The rads are clean). I observed this when having the radiators off and opening the lockshields to flush the pipe and to observe the flow.
Is it possible / practical to try to use a pressure washer to back flush the pipe (8mm). However, I can't think how I would make the connections - but is it worth trying?
Pressure washers only really work on 'back pressure' IYSWIM, the water going through a restriction, so it would have the power to force out any blockage, but it won't be operating at its full pressure.
Most pressure washers have 22mm x 1.5mm connections sealed by an 'O' ring - so you can attach the hose to the machine without tools. Sometimes this will be swaged onto the pressure hose, sometimes the hose ends in a 1/4" or
3/8" bsp thread and uses an adaptor e.g. 3/8" M to M22F.At the gun end, the hose will either be an intergral part of the trigger assembly or terminate in a 1/4" or 3/8" bsp thread, usually female.
If the latter you can undo it & use standard bsp couplings. If the former you would need to use a length of hp hose and a 22mm adaptor.
These people have all the adaptors you could shake a stick at, but are trade only. You should find a local high pressure cleaner repair outfit in YP who would be happy to sort it for beer vouchers.
Pressure washers don't actually use that much water at all, they use a small amount at high pressure. I think what you need is a good volume of water blasting through your pipes to flush them out.
David
Fair point. Pressure washers work from about 6 litres/min for DIY models. I wonder what the flow rate of a CH pump is by comparison?
Perhaps I should convert my boiler to a filling loop (currently header tank) and use mains pressure. The boiler is a Combi and for some strange reason the builder opted for header tank.
I have read somewhere on the Internet, and it may have been discussed on this group before, about using water at mains pressure to flush out central heating systems. I don't mean letting the water flow into the header tank and then out though the pipes. But by temporarily connecting the mains cold water feed to the header tank flow pipe (say) and lettng the water flow out of various radiator feed pipes ( with the radiator disconnectd), until it runs clean. Then connecting the mains cold water feed to the header tank expansion pipe and doing the same. I have not tried this myself, but it sounds like a poor mans "Pressure Flush" and may be good enough to flush out most of the black shittite that you get in CH systems. One problem, maybe, that it ends up in the boiler itself, which would be bad !
Any comments ?
Ian.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "John" saying something like:
Get an electrician's conduit snake, like these...
I did once connect a hose to the top of one of the radiators with a suitable adaptor and forced mains up the return pipe and got an overflow from the header. It didn't help. Was working on my own so I couldn't get very creative with other drains open.
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