POWERFLUSHING central heating system

southcoastrgi

mwbrown wrote: »

Usually the first thing BG advised when they came out to repair it was that it would be beneficial for it to be powerflushed (all the black gunk in the system)

The installer cleaned out the magnaclean filter a couple of times after running the sytem and loads of gunk game out.

I have cleaned the filter out a couple of times in the last few weeks and the first time a reasonable amount of gunk came out, but upon cleaning it today there was about 25% of the gunk in the filter this time compared to the first time.

to maintain the warrentee the system must be flushed, this means cleaned, now this can be a manual flush using chemicals or a powerflush using chemicals, because of what you said neither was done correctly, so your installer failed to carry out his job correctly

mwbrown

southcoastrgi wrote: »

to maintain the warrentee the system must be flushed, this means cleaned, now this can be a manual flush using chemicals or a powerflush using chemicals, because of what you said neither was done correctly, so your installer failed to carry out his job correctly

Perhaps you didn't read my original post fully, I mentioned in the 3rd paragraph....

"Fast forward a couple of years and we finally bit the bullet and got the boiler replaced (system was flushed and various additives were added and new boiler fitted - which is working great and no issues)... The installer cleaned out the magnaclean filter a couple of times after running the sytem and loads of gunk game out."

How did our installer fail to carry out his job correctly when "cleaning" the system out??

Are you advising us that when cleaning a system out with chemicals, the build up of gunk over the years will come out straight away (personally I would have thought that there could still be some particles floating around the system after the chemical flush has been done, or should i not have cleaned out the magnaclean (as per the advice of our installer!) and waited until the first service is carried out in Dec 2014.....

southcoastrgi

I did read your post fully

a flush should be done properly, which means a manual flush lets the chemicals go round the system for a period of time, then it is flushed out by re-filling & emptying until the water runs clear, this will take serveral re-fills & far longer than a powerflush, the difference between a manual flush & a powerflush is that you don't use a powerflush machine & it is far less effective because you can't reverse flush it & still leaves all the crap going around your new boiler & system (which a powerflush won't because you flush it to a drain as it's re-filled with clean water), to fit a magnaclean & let that catch all the muck is the wrong way to do it as it isn't going to do the job correctly which is why both he & yourself have had to keep emptying it out, plus leaving cleaning chemicals in the system can cause problems with your pump & boiler & all these should have been cleaned out.

the magnaclean is still going to catch "muck" but this should be a min amount, the fact that it is still getting full means the flush wasn't done correctly

southcoastrgi

what is the make & model of your new boiler ?

mwbrown

Its a Vaillant...

Regarding the quite a bit coming out when the installer fitted it - im guessing that there would still be some stuck in the rads/pipes etc that got dislodged after the system was run (hence being advised to check the magnaclean and clean out as necessary...

Plus I said a reasonable amount of gunk came out then a couple of weeks later cleaned it out and about 25% of the first amount came out..... I never mentioned it was full of gunk when I cleaned the filter out.... personally I wouldn't expect even a fully cleaned out system to be perfectly clean (our rads and pipework are probably 10+ years old) and there will always be some gunk in the pipes/rads and when the system is running the bits that didn't get flushed out originally would be collected in the filter.....

Im also guessing that to clean the system fully (been told by the wife who was in when they installed the boiler that the water that came out when the first started to flush the system was totally black and they left it flushing out until it came out clear - but they still cleaned out the magnaclean (twice) once the system had been run) would involve many man hours (and the cost of doing it until the system was "fully clean" would totally outweigh the cost (I would have thought it would be cheaper to replace all the pipes and rads rather than spending more hours and probably a lot more money cleaning out the system until it is totally clean and free from any gunk!!).

southcoastrgi

Caution!
To prevent the formation of deposits and prevent
serious damage to the appliance and system,
cleansers must be used carefully and must
be completely removed by thoroughly flushing
the system. Cleansers should only be left in
systems for a maximum of 24 hours.

This cleansing must take place prior to the fitting of the
new boiler and be in accordance with BS 7593

Taken from your boiler installation instructions, yes manual flushing takes many hours, which is why a powerflush is prefered

plumb1_2

mwbrown wrote: »

Its a Vaillant...

Regarding the quite a bit coming out when the installer fitted it - im guessing that there would still be some stuck in the rads/pipes etc that got dislodged after the system was run (hence being advised to check the magnaclean and clean out as necessary...
.

There should be no muck or particles in the system after a Powerflush

When powerflushed several checks need to be made, to determine the cleanliness of the water. When people start having to clean out any type of filter, its the 1st sign that there is a problem when the water in the system.

mwbrown

southcoastrgi wrote: »

Caution!
To prevent the formation of deposits and prevent
serious damage to the appliance and system,
cleansers must be used carefully and must
be completely removed by thoroughly flushing
the system. Cleansers should only be left in
systems for a maximum of 24 hours.

This cleansing must take place prior to the fitting of the
new boiler and be in accordance with BS 7593

Taken from your boiler installation instructions, yes manual flushing takes many hours, which is why a powerflush is prefered

The installer manually flushed our system and added SM3 cleanser and TSSM1 inhibitor and according to the Commissioning checklist the system was flushed and cleaned in accordance with BS7593 and boiler manufacturers instructions - so all the SM3 would have been flushed out of the system prior to the TSSM1 being added.

Our installer is Vaillant approved (hence getting a 5 year warranty with our boiler - received the paperwork from vaillant after the installation), and im 100% happy with way that he flushed the system as per the manufacturers requirements.

How can it be wrong to have cleaned out the magnaclean a few times to remove any excess gunk that wasn't flushed out (ie.. stuck inside rads, pipes, etc during the flush in accordance with BS7593 and manufacturers instructions). The benchmark sheet has been filled in fully.

plumb1_2

mwbrown wrote: »

The installer manually flushed our system and added SM3 cleanser and TSSM1 inhibitor and according to the Commissioning checklist the system was flushed and cleaned in accordance with BS7593 and boiler manufacturers instructions - so all the SM3 would have been flushed out of the system prior to the TSSM1 being added.

Our installer is Vaillant approved (hence getting a 5 year warranty with our boiler - received the paperwork from vaillant after the installation), and im 100% happy with way that he flushed the system as per the manufacturers requirements.

How can it be wrong to have cleaned out the magnaclean a few times to remove any excess gunk that wasn't flushed out (ie.. stuck inside rads, pipes, etc during the flush in accordance with BS7593 and manufacturers instructions). The benchmark sheet has been filled in fully.

SM3 is not strong enough to clean out a existing system, sm3 is used for new systems upto 6 mths old. And your engineer would know that.. For a manual flush better to use X400 System Restorer. A manual flush cant be done unless all the rads are taken off and flushed outside MIN.

southcoastrgi

He can be accredited up to the eyeballs & put whatever he likes on the paperwork, from what you have posted on here he DIDN'T do the job correctly & unfortunately you trying to defend him isn't going to make the slightest difference to the trades on here that know what they are talking about