I need to refill inhibitor again as there was quite a bad leak in the system, I have bought Sentinel X100 concentrate (BTW it was quite cheap at Homebase, Twelve forty nine only). However the instructions differ slightly to the Fernox product I used previously.
The instructions state that you must depressurise the system if it is a sealed system, I suppose this is to prevent the inhibitor spitting back out which was rather messy with the Fernox product. Can I depressurise by bleeding the water out of a radiator until the pressure is 0.0 bar?. I don't mind doing that.
Just turn off one radiator at both taps, then drain off a litre or 2 from that radiator by undoing the tail nut near the tap. Remove either the bleed valve or blind plug at the top of the rad, then pour the inhibitor into the rad. Fill it up with water as much as you can then, put the plug back in, turn on the rad valves,bleed it, then check the pressure at the boiler, it should have only gone down by a tiny amount. If you have not got the screw-in plug/bleed valves on your rads, then you'll have to drain it down a lot more to pour the inhib into the pipes. Alan.
product. Just do the instructions he has given and inject the product into one radiator. When the system is running it will disperse the solution around the circuit without any problem. You don't have to do anything special to add these products to the system. Adding it to one radiator is enough once the system gets running again.
Ok I understand (nearly) so how and why do I have to pour water back in the radiator? Are you 100% sure the inhibitor won't start spitting back out after I remove the adapter?
Turn off both valves to one radiator. Put a jug or bowl under the bleeder valve of the radiator and undo the valve. Water will come out and go into the jug / bowl. This leaves a space in the radiator for you to put in your chemicals. Inject the chemicals into the bleeder hole. Don't lose the bleeder bolt. Put it somewhere safe, like in a pocket or something.
Once you have injected your chemicals, put the bleeder bolt back into the radiator and open up the valves to allow the water back in to the radiator. Start the system running as normal. The system will make funny noises with the air moving around. Don't worry about it just now.
After an hours or two (or even the following morning) of having the system running, go around all the radiators, starting with the highest, and bleed the air out. Remember to top up the boiler to its working pressure again. The chemicals will have had the chance to work their way around the whole system in that time. That's it. The jobs done.
No. The valves have to be closed, because you will only have water continuously running through the radiator, which is not what you want to have when doing this procedure.
Big snag with this is trying to catch all the water ejected. Because there's a pressure vessel it's rather more than you might expect.
It *really* is worth while fitting a convenient drain down point for future use. Even although it's not needed that often. My favourite is a combination lockshield/drain on a rad near an outside door so you can just fit a length of hose and drain easily with no mess.
Thanks for that, that is really the kind of idiots guide I needed. I have loads of drain down points on the ground floor, there are all near outside doors.
I now remembered that is exactly what I done with the Fernox product,only I opened one valve when injecting the chemicals which was advised in the instructions, the moment I had finished injecting the chemicals and removed the adapter a lot of it came shooting back out of the radiator. This is why I am slightly worried.
But you don't open valves until you have put everything back together.
Turn off both valves to isolate the radiator. Undo the bleeder bolt and catch the excess water in a jug or bowl. Remove the bleeder bolt from its hole. Inject your chemicals into the hole where the bleeder bolt came out of. Don't lose the bleeder bolt, put it in your trouser pocket as soon as you've taken it out of the radiator.
Once you've injected your chemicals into the bleeding hole. Put the bleeder bolt back in the hole and tighten it up, fully. You don't want to take any water or air out of the system at this point.
Now turn the valves back on. Let the system run as normal for a few hours and let the chemicals disperse through the system from the radiator. You will hear air bubbling around in the system, but don't worry about it, because it's only for a few hours.
Once the system has been running to let the chemicals get right through the system. Turn everything off at the boiler and bleed all the air out of the system. Start with the highest radiator on the loop, and work your way back toward the boiler in a big circle. Once you have all the air out of the heating circuit, top up the boiler back to its working pressure (usually between 1 - 1.5 on the gauge) and start it all up again like normal.
That's your chemicals in the system without all the hassle of making pressure balloons or adding special valves all over the place. It is that simple. Honest.
You should try doing what you're doing, on an under-floor heating circuit. In fact, it's just as easy with a closed by-pass and bleeder valve on our system too. :-)
Good luck with it, and don't panic. Just follow the instructions that we have given, and everything will go like clockwork.
Not so convenient if you live in a flat :-) My system has a drain point connected up to where the old boiler had it's drain point connected to an outside pipe that went to an outside downpipe and there is also a filling point installed for putting inhibitor in near the boiler .
I tried this and did it work? Well I am afraid to say it didn't; as soon as started injected the chemical it began to shoot out of the air vent hole, so I stopped straight away and now I am wondering what to do.
Even I thought it would be a quick 5 minute job, what am I doing wrong?
1.Close radiator valves.
2.Open bleed screw and catch any excess water.
3.Remove the bleed screw.
4.Start injecting inhibitor in through the hole.
5.Replace bleed screw.
6.Once system has been circulating for a few hours bleed all radiators starting from the highest one.
The instructions clearly state to depressurise the system before putting inhibitor in, but I don't know how to do this.
Now drain off 2 litres or so of water from rad by undoing the union bolt/nut at the bottom. You cannot put more water into an already full rad, so you need to drain some off first.
Fill up rad with water through the hole - saves on bleeding later.
Open rad valaves then bleed any air out.
Dont bother with No.6. turn on the rad valves, then bleed the rad you have been working on. Any air in the system will be at the top of that rad.
There is no need to de-pressurise if you isolate the rad like I told you last night. Alan.
This doesn't leave enough space for the inhibitor. Also since the filling tube makes a seal it will be trying to push against air pressure - and will simply spew out when you disconnect. You need to close the lockshields and drain the rad to make enough room. And leave one undone while squirting in the inhibitor to allow air out.
Open the drain valve. You say you have one - so what's the problem about using it?
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