How often to powerflush?

I had the Central Heating boiler installed about 4.5 years ago, by British Gas. They powerflushed the system at that time, and replaced the boiler and hot water tank, pump and controller.

This week a radiator in the bathroom (which is a bit newer as we had the bathroom redone) went cold towards the top, so I bled it and it warmed again. However, the next morning all the radiators were cold, and the hot water was lukewarm. Bleeding the bathroom radiator again led to lots of gurgling and things warming up again. I've had a British Gas engineer out (on the service contract) and he said that the pump was on too high a setting (don't think I've changed it since it was instaleld), he turned it down and said if I kept bleeding the radiator it'll be ok in a few days. He then said that it needed a powerflush, as there was lots of metal(?) collecting near the pump (in a sort of squarish copper box at a junction).

I do live in a very hard water area, but should it really need powerflushing allready? They said it would be =A3400, would I get it cheaper elsewhere? From what I've read of diy solutions I don't think I'd like to try that as I'm quite cack handed and don't really want to screw it up more.

Ta

John

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John
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You should never have to. You'd only need to powerflush if you've had a corrosion problem. You should not get corrosion problems with a properly installed & maintained heating system.

It's specified by many boiler manufacturers to prevent damage to their heat exchangers when fitted to an existing system.

Corrosion problems, probably been pumping over and corroding the inside of the radiators.

Hire a machine and do it yourself, =A3100 ish. If you're cack-handed, pay someone competent. =A3250 ish a day labour. Or buy some Fernox chemicals and flush the system without powerflushing. This is treating the symptoms. You need to get the pumping over (if that is the cause) sorted out.

Reply to
Aidan

This week a radiator in the bathroom (which is a bit newer as we had the bathroom redone) went cold towards the top, so I bled it and it warmed again. However, the next morning all the radiators were cold, and the hot water was lukewarm. Bleeding the bathroom radiator again led to lots of gurgling and things warming up again. I've had a British Gas engineer out (on the service contract) and he said that the pump was on too high a setting (don't think I've changed it since it was instaleld), he turned it down and said if I kept bleeding the radiator it'll be ok in a few days. He then said that it needed a powerflush, as there was lots of metal(?) collecting near the pump (in a sort of squarish copper box at a junction).

I do live in a very hard water area, but should it really need powerflushing allready? They said it would be £400, would I get it cheaper elsewhere? From what I've read of diy solutions I don't think I'd like to try that as I'm quite cack handed and don't really want to screw it up more.

Ta

John

John,

I had my system power flushed by BG about four years ago. During the sales spiel before having it done, I was told that once it was done, if it was EVER needed again, BG would flush it for free - providing the installed inhibitors had been maintained to sufficient strength.

To add to that, I was talking to a BG engineer a few months ago about it, and he said that BG would re-flush the system free of charge even if the inhibitors were 'weak'.

Get onto them and invoke that guarantee.

Brian G

Brian G

Reply to
Brian G

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