Power flushing central heating system

JustAnotherSaver

Basically i'm wondering is this forcing water through at high pressure or is their chemicals involved (or even both)?

We keep fish & my wife is a member of a fish group. One of the members there recently had someone out to tend to their boiler. All their fish are now dead & the house reeks of chemicals.

Obviously something we want to avoid and since the job is getting done tomorrow i just wanted to try and find out today as we don't want to end up having the same happen to us.

longwalks1

Is your boiler linked in any way to your fish tank then? (excuse my ignorance)

JustAnotherSaver

britishboy wrote: »

Is your boiler linked in any way to your fish tank then? (excuse my ignorance)

Not physically no. We have a number of tanks - 5 in total. The only connection the boiler has with the tanks is when doing water changes, we'll use the hot & cold taps to bring the water to the correct temperature & that's it.

The lady in the group keeps the same fish as we do and from the post i was under the impression she believes it's from the chemical smell in the air as she says the house stinks of it now.

Warwick_Hunt

It's more effective if you use chemicals.

I can see why the whole house would smell.

JustAnotherSaver

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

It's more effective if you use chemicals.

I can see why the whole house would smell.

I'm not saying that power flushing is what this lady had done. She just said she had work done on her boiler (& boiler still not fixed). It's us that are having our system power flushed tomorrow.

I never paid it any mind but after my wife saw that post it made us think.

I can only think of covering the tanks with some plastic sheeting and/or towels.

Warwick_Hunt

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I'm not saying that power flushing is what this lady had done. She just said she had work done on her boiler (& boiler still not fixed). It's us that are having our system power flushed tomorrow.

I never paid it any mind but after my wife saw that post it made us think.

I can only think of covering the tanks with some plastic sheeting and/or towels.

Why?

Are the tanks under the boiler or anywhere he may spill the chemicals?

peachyprice

I put towels over all my tanks when I do my annual flea spray.

Lorian

Yes spraying fleas, moths, or ants, or flies. Permethrin and Fish not a good combination. there are others too.

Alex1983

Power flushing done correctly involves putting chemicals into your heating system and using a machine to pump it around the system, there should be no smells or chemicals released into your house when doing this.

adonis

If you are worried and use air pumps I would try to site them outside and extend the tubing if they are powerful enough and also cover the tanks while the smell is there.

JustAnotherSaver

Thanks @Alex & adonis

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

Why?

Are the tanks under the boiler or anywhere he may spill the chemicals?

No but then they don't need to be. I don't suppose they say not to have smelly candles burning near the tanks for no reason. It must be as it gets in the air & then comes in to contact with the water it becomes a bad idea.

And to be perfectly honest i don't really fancy using our fish as an experiment to see whether it's fine or not so i'll at least be making sure to cover the tanks.

I know it's "just a fish" to those who don't keep them, but it's a pet regardless and i'd rather minimise the risks as best i can.