British Gas Central Heating Power Flush

ollski

gunmaker wrote: »

If I thought it was necessary, which I don't believe it is, then I would drain the system down and run it with a flushing solution and add an inhibitor afterwards. The "gunk" collects in the bottom of radiators generally not the pipes. I certainly wouldn't pay £700.00 for it to be power flushed.

Sounds as if you don't require a flush, if you have a properly installed system and have kept it well maintained and inhibitor levels up you probably wont. The gunk will sit and solidify in the rads and pipes as a complete system, if it's dirty complete and total waste of time to replace a rad...it will collect gunk again immediately you replace it.

angels2009

Our boiler went wrong and BG said we need a powerflush and if we don't have it, even though we have a homecare service contract, they will NOT cover us and we will have to pay for any repairs!! They basically have us over a barrel. We were quoted £685 in April and sought advice from a plumber who told us that we didn't need it done. As I have still been paying for the service contract all this time I feel I have no option but to go and have the powerflush done. As the quote only lasts 28 days I called to ask for a further quote hoping to get them to quote lower. The engineer turned up today, didn't look at my system and again quoted £685! What a waste of money sending out someone to write on a bit of paper when they could have just told me the price on the phone. When I tried to get him to lower the quote he told me that it is set in stone and the price cannot be reduced. he also said that if we got anyone else to do it there is a possibility that the pipes could be damaged or leaks could occur and again BG would not cover us! What choice do I have?? I will ring them on monday to see if they will reduce the cost but I don't hold out much hope.!!

Lgas

I've said it before and i'll say it again, don't tar all BG engineers with the same brush. In all the houses i've been to i've only left one powerflush quote which was requested by the customer. Another which definately did need flushing couldn't be done as half the system was run on microbore. I still spent the best part of an hour balancing the rads to get them hot, still stone cold at the bottom but we do what we can.

Just to clarify on this 'sludge clause' in the homecare contract - if BG say you need a powerflush or you will have to pay for repairs, they are only referring to sludge related faults/problems. All other breakdowns/faults are covered as usual.

gunmaker

angels2009 wrote: »

Our boiler went wrong and BG said we need a powerflush and if we don't have it, even though we have a homecare service contract, they will NOT cover us and we will have to pay for any repairs!! They basically have us over a barrel. We were quoted £685 in April and sought advice from a plumber who told us that we didn't need it done. As I have still been paying for the service contract all this time I feel I have no option but to go and have the powerflush done. As the quote only lasts 28 days I called to ask for a further quote hoping to get them to quote lower. The engineer turned up today, didn't look at my system and again quoted £685! What a waste of money sending out someone to write on a bit of paper when they could have just told me the price on the phone. When I tried to get him to lower the quote he told me that it is set in stone and the price cannot be reduced. he also said that if we got anyone else to do it there is a possibility that the pipes could be damaged or leaks could occur and again BG would not cover us! What choice do I have?? I will ring them on monday to see if they will reduce the cost but I don't hold out much hope.!!

You do have other options. Cancel your contract with BG and take out another with a reputable independent Heating company, there are many available. You will probably find it cheaper too.

Horseunderwater

Funny that this is about the PF. When we wanted to take out a BG care contract, 4 years or so ago, price was £680 and we got told no flush no cover under any circumstances. We have had many a rad non working for many years. OH who is not a plumber, looked up the how to do it stuff on the internet. Took the non working ones out cleaned the 2 out and yeah gunk did come out. He then put them back on, refilled system up and bled the air out until we got them semi working. Turned out to be the thermostat knobs in both cases. So top taken off and tapped gently with a hammer and it works like it never ever did. The problem we now seem to have is that the hot water does not always heat up and boiler seems to gain Air into it and over heats. So of course as soon as you bleed the air out, it works fine again. I did buy some inhibitor but it was Altech and I got told that adding this causes more problems than in fixes. So we have not done this as yet. I also have the cleaner that you use before you flush it. This is meant to collect all the oxidation and when you flush get rid of, then you keep flushing till clear and add inhibitor.
Frances

jalexa

Horseunderwater wrote: »

OH who is not a plumber, looked up the how to do it stuff on the internet. Took the non working ones out cleaned the 2 out and yeah gunk did come out.

Well done for that. Now that you know how maybe another dose of system cleanser and then inhibitor, though read the Fernox warning about acid cleaning older boilers. No need to pay more than the Screwfix "No Nonsense" range.

Slightly worried about the continued air ingress and the "hot water" problem. That *may* be a heat exchanger problem or it could be the air ingress is a design problem or just "unbled" air collecting at the boiler. After refilling you need to bleed every radiator and every "high-point", which may not be possible without a bleed valve.

Good luck.