British Gas Homecare

dannyxx25

summer01, homecare200 is in my opinion supposed to be designed to give people like you and me a bit of peace of mind, as i've said before in the thread i think BG cannot be. I believe there only purpose on this planet nowadays is to pull the wool over peoples eyes and rip them off. I believe if you look in "utilities" you may find more info about homecare200 if not then you will certainly come across BG's latest scam.

Wrexhamed

Big thankyou for all the helpful replies. I think I'll avoid the powerflush then! To be honest I know very little about boilers so without the helpful advice I could well have parted with money for nothing. Our boiler is only around 5 years old. We have been getting problems with the temperature of the radiator int he conservatory. They said this was down to the radiator piping running from a small radiator in the dining room.

JLDL

In fairness to BG, im having issue with noisy CH system, it may be sludge issue. I took out homecare 300 and when engineers came to look at system for first service i mentioned noises i was hearing. The Engineer did say it would probably be sludge...i knew this was coming and said 'hmm, ok but im not paying £600 for powerflush' and he just said it wouldnt be needed and i could drain down the system myself and use chemicals for a few weeks and that would be fraction of price.

He probably wasnt going to get the commission for reccommending powerflush perhaps...

keystone

roger196 wrote: »

You only need a powerflush if the rads are blocked.

Even then that doesn't mandate a powerflush.

The symptom of this is hot at the top and cold at the bottom.

In that case water is flowing although restricted and they cannot be blocked or am I being thick this morning?

Cheers

C_Mababejive

If there weren't so many useless and incompetent installers out there then there would be no need for powerflushing.

heating-eng

C_Mababejive wrote: »

If there weren't so many useless and incompetent installers out there then there would be no need for powerflushing.

...correct

heating-eng

roger196 wrote: »

You only need a powerflush if the rads are blocked. The symptom of this is hot at the top and cold at the bottom. The sludge forms an inverted V in the rad. The cheapest way of removing this is to take rad off wall(drain system, turn off valves each end, use plenty of rag to catch black sludge), into garden and flush through with garden hose. repeat with remaining rads.
Another way is to remove one rad. Attach garden hose to each of the pipes, plastic hose when warm will just slip over 15mm pipe, fix with jubillee clip. One hose to garden tap, other hose to drain. Then flush each rad in turn with others turned off. Use lowest water pressure possible to get flow through as full mains water pressure can damage valves etc.

When you refill, add inhibitor about £15.

if the rads are blocked you will proberly need new rads .
you cannot flush a blocked rad or central heating system.
glad your not doing my heating
Roger stop with your advice .you are misleading people and telling them incorrect information.

heating-eng

Wrexhamed wrote: »

We subscribe to the highest package. They came yesterday and found sludge in the pipework near the boiler. They would charge approx £600 to do a power flush. Can anyone give me any advice on whether they have had this done or whether we would be better going with a local plumber?
Any advice gratefully received.

a local plumber will be around half the price.
i would say BG is more likely to do a better job than most plumbers with better warrenty.

heating-eng

ormus wrote: »

its the latest buzzword. a nice little money earner for BG.
even regular plumbers are doing it.

funny how all those millions of CH systems lasted for yrs without any flushing isnt it?

funny how customers didnt want to pay for new rads and pipework when then had a new boiler isnt it :T

thats why a lot need flushing now .

roger196

heating-eng wrote: »

if the rads are blocked you will proberly need new rads .
you cannot flush a blocked rad or central heating system.
glad your not doing my heating
Roger stop with your advice .you are misleading people and telling them incorrect information.

It depends to what extent the rads are blocked. If totally blocked by black sludge, it is still sometimes possible to flush through the demounted rad with a hose in the garden. Flexible wire cable can be a help. Replacement is only necessary if the rad is rusted through.
Partial blockage can be removed by flushing as I suggested with the rad still in place. My methods are a lot cheaper than powerflushing. Much depends on how you cost the labour involved ie for the diy'er the labour cost is nil.