Power Flush or Clean Radiators?

djp64

Hi

Would be grateful for any advice / words of wisdom :-)

I live in a house built in the early 1980s. The central heating is from a gas boiler (not a combi boiler).

I think the radiators are the original ones as is the central heating control panel but the boiler / thermostat are newer, indicating perhaps that the central heating may have been worked on in the past and possibly drained / flushed. I bought the house a year ago. A lot of the radiators are double radiators and the pipework is not the thin microbore stuff. My best guess is that the pipework is about 1cm or so in diameter.

I have two radiators downstairs (both double), one in the hallway and one in the living room that are cold at the bottom but hot at the top. As far as I can tell from a simple touch test all the other radiators seem to function normally. From googling and reading here the problem would appear to be sludge in the affected radiators.

I have looked at local powerflushing companies and the cost is coming out at around £500. The price seems to be higher as most of the radiators are doubles.

I don't have the skills / knowledge and for the living room radiator the strength, to remove the radiators and flush them through manually.

Am I better off getting a powerflush company in to flush the entire system and fit a magnatec device or would it be just as beneficial to get a plumber / heating engineer in to remove and flush the affected radiators.

I'd appreciate your thoughts - if it makes a difference I live in Milton Keynes in a hard water area.

Thanks

Debbie

garethgas

Hi Debbie,
First things first. I suggest you get a local heating Engineer to take a look and give you a proper diagnosis.
Whilst it might well need flushing, it may also be the pump or blockage or anything really.
As for powerflushing, its very good but very expensive. There are chemicals that can be added that dissolve the sludge and then drained out taking the sludge with it but not as effective.
Personally, I'd wait until its time to replace the boiler and then powerflush. In the meantime, get a second and informed opinion to find out what the real cause is.
You MAY be perfectly correct but it would be a bit of a gamble otherwise.
Watch out now for the powerflush haters!

DVardysShadow

The cause may be very simple. The pump could be set too low. Or the balancing adjuster valve at the other end of the radiator could be set too low. Or if the main valve is thermostatic, it could be stuck - take the valve head off and wiggle the actuating pin.

All of these are well worth looking at before considering a power flush.

FurryPaws

Hi,

As garethgas said, you need at least 2 opinions from plumbers or heat engineers before you do anything.

I have double radiators everywhere, OFCH and the bathroom radiator wouldn't heat up after the heating was off all summer last year. I knew the radiator was fine as it worked before.

I called 2 people out to access. One said he would have to replace all upstairs radiators at a cost of over £1000!!!! The other said it was a build up of sludge and power flush with chemicals.

I knew it was probably a build up so I went with the powerflush and it cost me £270. He came one day and took pipes from boiler, added the chemicals whcih break down all the sludge. Told me to have heating on as normal to let it circulate. Then came back a week later, washed all the chemicals and crap out of the system and added another chemical which apparently lines the inside of the radiators with a protective coating. Said it would be good for about 15 years now.

I'm very happy with the result (And at not being ripped off paying for new radiators when I don't need them!)

Just my experience, yours could be different. But for price of the power flush £500 sounds abit steep.

FP

djp64

Thank you for all your answers / advice.

I have already 'played' with the balance adjusting valves by turning them off completely and then opening in gradual increments to see if the radiators heated up. I got the valve to the point of being fully open but both radiators remain cold at the bottom. Apart from the radiator in the bathroom (just over a year old) all the radiators have thermostatic valves. Whilst looking in the boiler earlier (to see if I could find an installation date) I found a BG powerflush sticker. The CH was powerflushed in 2004.

I will take your advice and get a couple of heating engineers out. What should I look for when choosing an engineer / firm? Is there a trade body membership I should look for?

Debbie

garethgas

Ah, you have thermostats on the radiators? In that case, try removing the heads and squirt some wd40 onto the pin then gently wiggle them up and down.
It might be just that the pins have stuck down.

Canucklehead

djp64 wrote: »

Thank you for all your answers / advice.

I will take your advice and get a couple of heating engineers out. What should I look for when choosing an engineer / firm? Is there a trade body membership I should look for?

Debbie

Good morning: try the CIPHE if you can't find someone recommended to you by a source you trust i.e. colleagues, family etc.

HTH

Canucklehead