Best treatment for central heating?

The_Governor

I have a hankering to do a bit of maintenance on our system

It's just on 11 years old, never been flushed since we've owned it, but all rads heat up evenly and everything works as it should (I have to bleed one rad regularly but in 8 years haven't been able to find any evidence of a leak anywhere!).

I would like to avoid, emptying and refilling unless I have to do it.

I was thinking about getting some Fernox F1 in there, the superconcentrate stuff.

We have 17 rads in total - so I'm thinking two bottles should do it?

Are there other treatments worthwhile? Is this one worthwhile for that matter?

What other treatments or maintenance actions should I consdier (the boiler itself is serviced each year by British Gas under my maintenance contract).

chrissy21_2

In the know!!

If you put a cleaner in then you have to get the muck out.

If there is any dirt in it then you need to understand how it got there ie soft water corrosion, hydraulics incorrectly piped not commissioned properly initiall, chloride in the sytem, flux left in the system.

Is the water in the rads discoloured or is it clear - think you need to ask yourself why you are doing it if your system is working fine.

The_Governor

The F1 stuff is protector is it not?

The water is clear when i bleed the rads... the reason I;m doidng it is just my usual OCD desire to maintain stuff rather than leave well enough alone

andrew-b

If it ain't broke don't fix it?

To satisfy your OCDs without going as far as powerflush i'd drain it all down, take individual radiators off and flush them through with the garden hose outside (tip them upside down too and bash with rubber mallet to loosen any gunk). Put them all back on, stick in some system cleaner and run it for upto a month (or whatever the instructions say is max time), drain down and refill with inhibitor added. Actually thats what i'm still intending to do at some point but only because i suspect part of our system needs a clean out. It might improve the efficiency a little and the rads might warm up quicker...on the other hand it might achieve nothing or you might reveal a problem you didn't know about or you might damage something including yourself!

If you must muck about with it then i'd use the standard non-superconcentrate products as they are much cheaper (this is a money saving forum after all!).

Andy

The_Governor

Cheers for that Andy, I wasn't going to go as far as you described though!

My plan was to partially drain it down and then add some F1 - how far do I need to drain? Below the pump? All of the upstairs rads?

At what point will I have taken enough water out to make sure the treatment will circulate around the whole system?