central heating cleaner -plastic pipes

lawrie28

Evening all,

My central heating system needs a clean, and I managed to pick up a tube of cleanser from Wickes today for a whole 10p. It is a gel concentrate cleanser, and is injected into the system using a mastic gun. The tube says it is for mixed metal systems. However, I have plastic pipes. Now, I cant find anything about its suitability online (an old product, hence the price) but should I give this a try or not. Every other product I look at says it is suitable for plastic plumbing.

My thinking is that it will be heavily diluted, and hasnt eaten the plastic tube it came in, so should be fine. But, having watched Breaking Bad, am aware not all plastic is the same.

So does anyone have any experience of this, and whats the worst that can happen? (I know, it dissolves the joints/pipes and well as the sludge.)

Plumber90

The worst that could happen is all of your plastic pipes start to leak. If it doesn't say its suitable for plastic then I wouldn't use it.

JohnB47

lawrie28 wrote: »

Evening all,

My central heating system needs a clean, and I managed to pick up a tube of cleanser from Wickes today for a whole 10p. It is a gel concentrate cleanser, and is injected into the system using a mastic gun. The tube says it is for mixed metal systems. However, I have plastic pipes. Now, I cant find anything about its suitability online (an old product, hence the price) but should I give this a try or not. Every other product I look at says it is suitable for plastic plumbing.

My thinking is that it will be heavily diluted, and hasnt eaten the plastic tube it came in, so should be fine. But, having watched Breaking Bad, am aware not all plastic is the same.

So does anyone have any experience of this, and whats the worst that can happen? (I know, it dissolves the joints/pipes and well as the sludge.)

This sounds like one of those 'my roof tiles need cleaned' threads.What makes you think your central heating system needs a clean? Symptoms?

lawrie28

I have cold spots on the bottom of a few radiators. I have taken a couple off and they have sprung back into action, however one has not. The return pipe on this one does not get warm, so I believe it to be blocked. I am hoping a system clean will clear the blockage and get the rad working properly.

JohnB47

lawrie28 wrote: »

I have cold spots on the bottom of a few radiators. I have taken a couple off and they have sprung back into action, however one has not. The return pipe on this one does not get warm, so I believe it to be blocked. I am hoping a system clean will clear the blockage and get the rad working properly.

Fair enough. I've no experience of this but I would have thought a sort of power flush was necessary. Is that how you would use that cleaner you bought, put it in for a while and then flush out?

brightontraveller

Might want to read and try this first “Standard flush” and read “Power flush” and why some think is not anything than a bigger money spinner



http://www.gascentralheatinguk.com/FLUSHING.htm

andrew-b

I've cleaned my system in the past with no issue and part is plastic pipes so i wouldn't worry. I used sentinel x300 cleaner..drained down first, added cleaner in header tank and refilled. Left it for about a month to circulate (use heating as normal) then flush through well by refilling and draining down before refilling with inhibitor added. It's alot of faffing about but a hell of alot cheaper than a powerflush!

bridgedino

andrew-b wrote: »

I've cleaned my system in the past with no issue and part is plastic pipes so i wouldn't worry. I used sentinel x300 cleaner..drained down first, added cleaner in header tank and refilled. Left it for about a month to circulate (use heating as normal) then flush through well by refilling and draining down before refilling with inhibitor added. It's alot of faffing about but a hell of alot cheaper than a powerflush!

Plus one for this method.

JohnB47

Just looked at sentenels site. The x300 product is meant for recently installed systems. They have other products for cleaning out older systems. Ive never used them, so have no opinion.

keithu

I'm not a plumber, but I think that when it says it's compatible with mixed metal systems it means older boilers with cast iron heat exchangers and newer ones with aluminium heat exchangers. It shouldn't matter whether you have copper or plastic pipes.

If there is no flow into your cold radiator, though, the cleaner isn't going to help much because it won't reach the blockage (assuming there is one - it could just be an air lock). You need to restore at least partial flow first. Have you tried turning off all the other radiators so that water is forced through the cold one?