Powerflushing Central Heating system

kksi

Hi there,

I'm new to this so please be kind.

I need some advice, I have property that I let out, and I have one radiator that isn't working. The whole central heating system was installed exactly 3 years ago, as there was no gas supply in the property. So radiators, boiler, every bit associated with it is pretty new. I have a British Gas Homecare agreement, and obviosly called them out. They said that I need a powerflush on the system, that will cost £700. Can someone please advise me whether this is correct, as it seems like a lot of money when it is just one radiator that is not working, and the rest are working fine.

Any help, comments and advice will be much appreciated

Thanks guys

albyota

I would say, if the system is only 3 years old, it is more than likely an inhibitor would have put into the system during installation, there should be a label on the boiler Sentinell or Fernox etc.... unless the system has had a leak in this time, where the system has been diluted / topped up with new water, i.e. without inhibitor, then a powerflush would not be required....if all the other radiators are hot all over then there is no sludge/crud in the rads, therefore, the one rad that is cold may have an airlock, needs air bleeding out by radiator key, or the lockshield valve is off or the thermostatic valve needs unscrewing and the pin needs resetting..... or even wants re-balancing, you definately should not be paying £700 for a powerflush....tell BG to F off, a powerflush is between £200 for small house and £400 for a large house.

plumberian

Seems unlikely that you should need a powerflush after just three years. IF you do then the system was not properly drained out when hot just after installation. AND, you have had no inhibitor in it.

If I were you I'd get on the phone to the installed right now and ask him/her to come around and see what;s up. If no joy there, then get heavy and demand that they come and do so as you suspect that they have not done the job properly. Three years is not enough time to enjoy the benefit of what you paid them for.

On the other hand...

First thing is to give the TRV a tap with a small hammer (not too hard now). After that take the plastic head off (the way it comes off should be obvious to you, if it;s not then leave it to a professional) and then tap the pin you can see with a small hammer a few times.

If you have an open vent system(with tanks in the attic) you may have an air lock (get a plumber). If its a combi boiler or sealed system(no tank in attic) then an airlock is less likely.

As far as a powerflush goes, choose your firm carefully. BG are way too expensive and at best no better at it than a good specialist firm.

Because of the rules of the forum you would have to PM me to get a list of people that I can recommend to you and incidentally we've been powerflushing for nigh on eight years now.

Pricewise, to get it done properly you are looking at £425 ish for up to 9 rads if you do not have microbore pipework. If it's microboer you need to be even more careful

Hope that helps, all the best Ian Pritchard (King of Powerflushing)

Gerrard_8_lfc

BG are expensive for a Powerflush but give you a life time guarantee if you keep a active homecare agreement.

3 years of hard water ? could cause problems as BG would have said get it done by an independant and that would be fine.

You will get it cheaper by a local guy rather than BG.

And may I say Spam to the post above.:spam:

makemdano

Did it myself for less than £100. I'm not a plumber but always done most of my own work on the house. This isn't difficult but I'd recommend assistance if you're not confident. You have to isolate your (combi) boiler to avoid damage but once you've done that it isn't rocket science. I couldn't find a plumber to do this for less than £500. I fyou do it properly its at least a 1/2 day job longer if you've a lot of rads.
The process as I remember it is:-
1. Isolate boiler
2. Close all rad, in and out
3. Connect powerfulsh, keep the machine outside if poss, need suitable surface water drain for emptiying.
4. Fill machine with warm water.
5 Operate machine, reversing flow every (20 sec).

At this point my radiators started to work

6. Drain machine and refill. Starting with first rad on system, drain rad and open in and out flows
7. Close rad drain and operate powerflush again
8 Repeat for all rads.

If its still dirty consider using cleaner /descaler
Once you've finished leave space in the system for inhibitor and charge the system with this as the final step.

As I said I'm not a plumber so I'm not qualified to advise. If you're not confident pay the dosh and get an expert. If you are confident or you want to learn then consider the DIY route but appreciate the risks
I hired my powerflush from HISS - it came with full instructions ( for my level of plumbing knowledge)

PennyForThem_2

I got a new boiler from BG 3 years ago and a flush was a given. Now the radiators have been in the house at least 20 years and wow, much much better after the flush!

yes, i do put an inhibitor in the tank.

heating-eng

PennyForThem wrote: »

I got a new boiler from BG 3 years ago and a flush was a given. Now the radiators have been in the house at least 20 years and wow, much much better after the flush!

yes, i do put an inhibitor in the tank.

when bg flush a system they do a very good job much better than most plumbers (fact)i have been to many systems that have been flushed by plumbers and normally they needed doing again ..bg are not cheap but with a lifetime warrenty you get what you pay for

makemdano wrote: »

Did it myself for less than £100. I'm not a plumber but always done most of my own work on the house. This isn't difficult but I'd recommend assistance if you're not confident. You have to isolate your (combi) boiler to avoid damage but once you've done that it isn't rocket science. I couldn't find a plumber to do this for less than £500. I fyou do it properly its at least a 1/2 day job longer if you've a lot of rads.
The process as I remember it is:-
1. Isolate boiler
2. Close all rad, in and out
3. Connect powerfulsh, keep the machine outside if poss, need suitable surface water drain for emptiying.
4. Fill machine with warm water.
5 Operate machine, reversing flow every (20 sec).

At this point my radiators started to work

6. Drain machine and refill. Starting with first rad on system, drain rad and open in and out flows
7. Close rad drain and operate powerflush again
8 Repeat for all rads.

If its still dirty consider using cleaner /descaler
Once you've finished leave space in the system for inhibitor and charge the system with this as the final step.

As I said I'm not a plumber so I'm not qualified to advise. If you're not confident pay the dosh and get an expert. If you are confident or you want to learn then consider the DIY route but appreciate the risks
I hired my powerflush from HISS - it came with full instructions ( for my level of plumbing knowledge)

you have been lucky because thats not how to do a powerflush .

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

BG are expensive for a Powerflush but give you a life time guarantee if you keep a active homecare agreement.

3 years of hard water ? could cause problems as BG would have said get it done by an independant and that would be fine.

You will get it cheaper by a local guy rather than BG.


And may I say Spam to the post above.:spam:

hard water would not make any differance in a central heating system

telsokari

i had a new system installed last month. a new Vaillant EcoTec Pro24 with 5 radiators. 4 of these radiators are piping hot, 3 are brand new and one is old. These are also the closest and furthest radiators to the boiler.

My problem is that the 5th radiator is ice cold and even its pipes are cold as well. If i try to bleed it i can get water out of it and i also regularly hear a clicking sound coming from the radiator.

Any ideas on why its not working. There are no caps on it so had to use pliers to open and close it from both ends. Any ideas on whaty i can do to get it to work?

Thanks

T

Canucklehead

telsokari wrote: »

i had a new system installed last month. a new Vaillant EcoTec Pro24 with 5 radiators. 4 of these radiators are piping hot, 3 are brand new and one is old. These are also the closest and furthest radiators to the boiler.

My problem is that the 5th radiator is ice cold and even its pipes are cold as well. If i try to bleed it i can get water out of it and i also regularly hear a clicking sound coming from the radiator.

Any ideas on why its not working. There are no caps on it so had to use pliers to open and close it from both ends. Any ideas on whaty i can do to get it to work?

Thanks

T

Good evening: leave it to the RGI who installed the system.

Canucklehead

heating-eng

telsokari wrote: »

i had a new system installed last month. a new Vaillant EcoTec Pro24 with 5 radiators. 4 of these radiators are piping hot, 3 are brand new and one is old. These are also the closest and furthest radiators to the boiler.

My problem is that the 5th radiator is ice cold and even its pipes are cold as well. If i try to bleed it i can get water out of it and i also regularly hear a clicking sound coming from the radiator.

Any ideas on why its not working. There are no caps on it so had to use pliers to open and close it from both ends. Any ideas on whaty i can do to get it to work?

Thanks

T

turn off the 4 new rads and wait to see if it gets warm ..

if it does you will just need to balance the system

very easy to sort out..

keystone

heating-eng wrote: »

turn off the 4 new rads and wait to see if it gets warm ..

if it does you will just need to balance the system

very easy to sort out..

Don't you dare touch it. If you do your installer can quite happily walk away from his obligations - it was only installed a month ago. Get the guy back in and invite him to fix!.

Cheers