I'm flushing my 4 year old CH system and wondered about the best way to ensure a complete flush of the chemicals and grot before refilling with fresh water and inhibitor.
Should I drain from one point while feeding fresh water in from another, distant, drain point using my garden hose?
Due to the construction of my house, all downstairs rads are fed from the room above and are equipped with drain points.
Or to be really thorough, should I flush from each ground floor rad in turn?
TIA
Richard
You haven't said whether the system is sealed or open vented.
I've posted a suggested method a few times of really thorough cleaning involving taking radiators outside and pressure washing through them.
You don't necessarily need to go to these lengths. but I would at least flush through at each ground floor radiator if you can.
Remember that heating water containing iron is an indellible dye on carpets and other things
.andy
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First of all 4 years is a bit soon to require a flush unless something is wrong with the installation, that said..... drain the system enough to get your flush agent in then run the system normally for a week or so. This ensures it gets to every part of the system. Drain your system with the header tank still filling and if you can balance the fill/drain have the pump running but I would recommend turning the boiler stat off. Keep the rad that your draining from and the one above it open but the others off, go round all the drain points and do the same. You cant beat a flush machine because you can reverse the flow of water through each rad, I'm sure you can hire these by now. turn of all other rads apart from the
Flushing has been prompted by the amount of black sludge revealed by the installation of a Myson electric heating element into one of the towel rads and the memory that the installing plumber said that he had not added an inhibitor as he didn't think it necessary in a sealed system!
So, back to the original question (and bearing in mind the bit I left out: namely that it is a sealed system), should I apply fresh water via one of the drain points whilst draining from another (distant) drain point? Flushing agent has been in for 2 weeks now and I have a (frighteningly expensive) tube of Fernox inhibitor just waiting to be inserted.
TIA
Richard
Hi Andy,
Encouraging result so far - everything is flushed and refilled with fresh water but no inhibitor as yet. The flexi hoses to my Kickspace heater, which was disconnected during the period that the flushing chemical was doing its thing and whose increasing lack of efficiency sort of suggested the need for flushing, revealed a distressingly large quantity of what can only be described as chunks of rust. I suppose I should be glad that the very narrow pipes to the Kickspace caught the debris. I had to rod them out with one strand from a bit of twin and earth!!!
I think that I am going to reconnect the Kickspace and repeat the flushing. What do you think?
I might also remove my towel rad which has a Myson electric element, I suppose that could be restricting the flow enough to collect debris. Although the towel rad has not lost any efficiency.
Cheers Richard
Can you disconnect it and flush it with a mains hose or pressure washer?
This was why in earlier posts I had suggested the principle of taking radiators outside for a good hose through.....
.andy
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In message , Andy Hall writes
Do you really mean replenish (ie drain enough water to insert some more inhibitor) or flush and refill with fresh inhibitor?
Tia for clarifying,
I tend to test once a year and generally find that after three years the test indicates some loss of efficacy of the inhibitor. At that point I add more. On the next occasion, I drain, use a flushing agent and then refill, adding fresh inhibitor.
.andy
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In message , Andy Hall writes
Ahhhh, that's a point - what do you test with?
Fernox do a kit that you can get at a heating merchant.
.andy
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Yep, it's sitting in the garage at present. As it's p********g down here I might as well connect it to a garden hose and get completely drenched!
I will probably take the towel rad out for a good flushing. All the other rads appear to have flushed clear of debris and chemical so I think that I will leave them until they come off the walls for decorating in the not too distant future.
I can send anyone who is interested a picture of the debris that emerged from the Kickspace hoses. Plumbers pah!!
Cheers
Richard
In message , Andy Hall writes
Thanks again Andy,
Did you get the software email?
.andy
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Re: Flushing system
You can hire this piece of kit.
I live in Sevenoaks, Kent but my ex-plumber is closer to SE London. I rather not 'broadcast' names, if anyone says to me is X any good I can truthfully, and without fear of action, describe my experiences. To be fair, he installed an adequate, if a little old fashioned in design, CH system. What he neglected to do was add an inhibitor and fix my Suprima
100 when it started to suffer from intermittant lock-out problems.If I was installing from scratch I would look at splitting each floor into a separate zone and at the very least fitting a high recovery HW tank or even one of those systems where the boiler heats all the water in the HW tank and the cold main runs through a coil in the tank straight to the taps, rather than stroing hot water as happens now.
Talking to neighbours and plumbers merchants; the firm most often mentioned as being consistently good is Geers. Haven't needed to call on them yet tho'! They did turn out in very short order (i.e. a few hours) to my neighbour who's son was dieing from Leukaeimia (I know that is an exceptional case but . . . )
Cheers Richard
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