Adding inhibitor without powerflush

juraj.kecso

Hi all,

When draining a boiler in order to replace a faulty diverter valve the CH water was really black and manky. I thought about doing a powerflush, but cannot afford at the moment due to fixing other stuff around the house (the joys of being a homeowner)

I also had couple of radiators taken out for room redecorations and will be putting them back on shortly. Radiators are empty, so possibly a great opportunity to pour some inhibitor in.

I am thinking of this:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/sentinel-x100-central-heating-scale-inhibitor-1ltr/79683

However, is it worth adding the inhibitor now or should I just wait until we've had the powerflush done in couple of months?

Also, how much inhibitor would I need for a system with 5 radiators?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ozzuk

I'm not a plumber (caveat!) but if there is rust etc in the system maybe fit a magnaflow whilst having all the work done. I've done a few, great units and easy to maintain.

Kiran

Ozzuk wrote: »

I'm not a plumber (caveat!) but if there is rust etc in the system maybe fit a magnaflow whilst having all the work done. I've done a few, great units and easy to maintain.

Ozzuk is wise, do this

vw100

Wait until after the power flush. While you have the rads out, hose them out in the meantime in the garden.

bris

Run a cleaner through it first, you can leave it in for a few days, get the rads at their hottest and let the chemicals shift the sludge.


Before you flush the chemical cleaner out you can hit the radiators with a rubber mallet to shock some stubborn stuff off. Not hard enough to dent the radiators obviously but it works.


Completely drain the system and refill then drain again then put inhibitor in. No point really putting it into a dirty system without first moving as much of it out as possible.

Rodders53

Powerflush may still not remove all magnetite (black stuff) from a system.

Diy flush out, cleaner, flush again, and add a filter plus good inhibitor will be as good and cheaper to boot!

X100 sell test kits to check concentration is correct. I suspect 1 litre for a 5 radiator system is ample though (check the instructions on the label or online).

fezster

The inhibitor will stop more magnetite building up, but it won't do anything for that which already exists. Make sure to completely drain down to get rid of all of the dirty water already in there.

You can use a chemical flush, but make sure you have a magna filter fitted on the return close to the boiler, otherwise all that sludge will just end up blocking your boiler.