British Gas & Power Flush

alanobrien · 10 August 2006 at 3:01PM

Typical powerflush cost is around £250 however it is very rarely necessary to powerflush at all, IF your system is correctly flushed at comissioning.

In any event its easy to DIY and you can hire a powerflush from HSS etc for £50 plus chemicals if you really need to.
Link;

http://www.hss.com/g/51610/Central_Heating_Flusher.html

Tip; Its worth downloading the PDF file on the the page linked above as it gives some insight into the process

c_smith · 10 August 2006 at 8:09PM

I wouldn't go to the expense of hiring the powerflushing machine though to do my own. Running the system with the DS-40 in it for a week will do the job just as well, then simply flush it several times with fresh water from the mains supply, and add the inhibitor. The powerflusher merely speeds up the process.

Panglagar · 21 October 2008 at 7:25PM

I have moved in to this property years ago which is appx 15 years old. A week ago, our hot water on the loft started overflow. I called BG and the engineer checked and said the said system needs power flush and quoted £670. I called BG and the operator said Power flush is a regular maintenance and does not affect the radiator. So he sent the one more engineer who was rude and impatient. He informed that some our piping is not copper. He quoted £773 and said if I call BG withoug flushing they would charge £140 as call out charge.

I have been paying BG by direct debit every month. When I needed thier help, they tell me Power flush does not include the home care plan. After reading the forum, I am not sure if the problem is due to the sludge or something else. I am thinking of discontinuing BG's Home Care 400. Any expert advise?

fjeer · 28 October 2008 at 12:28PM

I got the same thing from British Gas. Signed up for an expensive maintenance contract, and the first problem (blocked cold feed) requires a Powerflush (shock horror) costing £780.

So I called around for quotes from others and was told:

you can't powerflush an 8mm system, so you have to take all the radiators off and flush them independently, it's an expensive job, costing £580.

So £200 less than British Gas who would have just flushed it regardless. Idiots.

I'm going to sort the problem out myself, and tell British Gas where to shove their HomeCare contract.

MrBG · 17 December 2008 at 10:44PM

Central heating systems are quite simple really - you have a boiler (heats up the water) and a pump (circulates the water), and a sealed (combi) or unsealed gravity-fed (if you have a header tank) system of radiators. Both are really easy to drain down and service. (loads of advice on this on internet- just google it!). The main problem most people have is that they do no preventative maintenance themselves. Just before every winter I check my whole system (I have 18 double radiators) and open and close all valves (lockshield at one end of radiator, pliers are required) and check the thermostatic rad valves (TRVs) are working at other etc, and give them all a quick light tap to make sure they are free from obstruction (check them again an hour later to see if any have started to leak). Then every two years I drain down the system and refill, then drain down again and refill, then add furnox (other central heating corrosion inhibitors are available!) and bleed the rads and check pressure is within tolerance (not needed for gravity-fed system).

Bleed the rads and fire up the boiler, then balance the radiators starting with the ones nearest the boiler (lockshield valve nearly closed) incrementally to the furthest away (lockshield valve fully open) though is there is a huge difference in temperature between the pipes at each end of any individual radiator I balance it out a bit more. Whilst you are doing this, you can check for leaks as you go. Set all your valves to about 3 and then adjust to suit each room

Black water and a bit of sludge is quite normal. Radiators are made of steel, pipes are (mainly) made of copper and water of course contains many minerals. Bits of air in the system react with the metals and the water is stale, so hardly surprising it doesn't look like Perrier (other poncy overpriced mineral waters are available).

Have a go, become empowered and free yourself from the money-grabbing companies that prey on uncertainty. If it was so difficult, they'd have doctorates in heating system science wouldn't they, instead of some hairy-reared commission-grabbing chancers in shiny coats with embroidered logos. The people I really feel sorry for are good honest plumbers, decent tradespeople (there are many of these about - you just need to ask friends and colleagues for recommendations) who are happy to get their hands dirty and work hard for a living.

MrBG · 17 December 2008 at 10:48PM

fjeer wrote: »

ISo I called around for quotes from others and was told:
you can't powerflush an 8mm system, so you have to take all the radiators off and flush them independently, it's an expensive job, costing £580.

You could have all the radiators replaced in your house for less than that!

Probably enough left over to have gold leaf applied to your boiler as well!
:rotfl:

Pssst · 17 December 2008 at 11:13PM

I have no comment to make as to whether the OPs system needs powerflushing. I would add though that its quite possible for a relatively new system to need flushing rescuing and the usual cause is the use of self cleaning fluxes on installation coupled with improper cleansing/flushing of the system on first install. I have seen systems last only a couple of months before they are in big trouble.

GinnyT · 22 December 2008 at 10:38PM

Hi there. We have been having a gradual problem with just one radiator downstairs for the past couple of years. The other rads downstairs don't get as hot as the upstairs, but they are sufficiently warm, however the main lounge rad has good heat in the in pipe, warm rad and a cold out pipe. We've been told and quoted for a powerflush by British Gas (robbers) at £695, which i begrudge paying as they cannot guarantee it will work. If we don't have the powerflush, I am told our heating syustem will not be covered under our insurance. We drained our system ourseoves and added a cleaner from a DIY store in the autumn, the water flows freely through the system and is pretty clear (similar to weak orange squash in colour). We've been looking into using Fernox and I'm informed that the best to use is DS-40. I can't seem to find it on websites for the usual DIY stores. Is this something I have to order from the internet or could it have a different code? The rad was changed this weekend and its made no difference, so the problem must be in the pipework, I assume, though it can't be a huge problem, surely???

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MrBG · 27 December 2008 at 12:43PM

Have you tried blasting your system?:

Turn off all the other radiators and leave the one you have the problem with to circulate for a while (turn this one up to maximum). This will increase the pressure in your system around the problem area as you won't be circulating water through the other radiators. This may help clear any airlocks or small blockages.

Depending on how your radiators were installed, you may need to ensure that every radiator from the boiler to the problem one are also turned on, but turn these down if required.

Then switch the boiler off, bleed the system, switch back on and try to balance the system to get each radiator heating up equally (just google this a few times and try to find an example that best matches your system).

Not knowing what type of sytem you have, sealed (combi) or gravity fed (with header tank) and how the radiators are piped its difficult to advise appropriately, but I would try the above.

Also, get to know whether your system has been balanced - are the lockshield valves all wide open (not balanced) or are some of them partly open (has been previously balanced but may not be optimal performance).

One word of warning - you have added a cleaner (very good) which will break down deposits etc, you do need to make sure you drain this out as it is corrosive so shouldn't be left in permanently, and replace with an inhibitor (like Furnox or DS-40) to protect your system. Go to a specialist plumbing supplier (small independant retailers that plumbers go to, or the bigger ones like Curzon (www.curzoncare.co.uk), and ring them or go to the counter and talk to the experts.

DIW · 19 January 2009 at 8:28AM

Just going through a boiler problem myself. Was all working fine in August when BG tested and serviced.

A fault developed over New Year where hot water was intermittent and heating was on all the time water was being heated.

BG been out 3 times and replaced various parts but problems are getting worse. They do not seem to bleed the rads after they have drained down and replaced parts like diverter valve, non return valves, and manifold. They have left me with a worse problem - no heating at all at times.

...but every engineer bleats on about the system needing a power flush. The cost to me - £800 !

Looks to me that they need investigating over this.

All our rads were getting hot, hot water was intermittent and sometimes way too hot. It's just not right.

British Gas & Power Flush

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