British Gas & Power Flush
Comments
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We took off our hall radiator when decorating at Christmas and emptied it whilst it was off. It improved its heat output dramatically. We then realised many of the downstairs radiators, whilst warm at the top, were cold at the bottom so emptied them from the drain valve. Our plumber was going to charge around £400 for a power flush so we thought we would have a go ourselves. Our house was built in 1996 and we hadn't expected this kind of problem but he told us he had done quite a few houses on the estate.
The B&Q advisor suggested using Kilrock and we put that in the header tank (which was full of silt) and now our dining room and lounge radiators are completely cold. We have turned up the thermostat and the boiler to no avail.
Before we completely drain the system and start from scratch, we would appreciate some advice on how to kick-start the water running through the radiators in these two rooms. Or... what else should we be doing?
Many thanks
Veejay0 -
We have had BG out 3 times in the past month as the upstairs radiators get hot when the boiler is heating hot water only. They replaced loads of things and could only suggest flushing the system myself, the engineer even gave me a bottle of the flush stuff, he would have given me the inhibitor if he had it. He said a power flush would be about £600 which he said was expensive and should be a last resort. They don't do regular flush's as they can't guarantee them, fair enough. He also explains how to drain the system as well.
It pays to be chatty and friendly even though you may have had repeat visits for the same problem as the engineers are always excellent, never had to complain, and I am a serial complainer. Not to mention that BG isn't a good company to work for any more, do a google news search
I also asked about the energy rating of the boiler, he said it would qualify for scrappage and they would perform a powerflush as part of the installation. My gas bill came today, £380 for 3 months. So it may pay to get a new one, even if it is not with BG0 -
Power flushing is a modern day money spinner for BG and many other companies like them. In my opinion introducing aggressive cleaning materials like sentinel x400 is foolish.
I have been to many customers properties where they have had a powerflush using these chemicals and within 2 weeks the customer is having to bleed all their radiators and getting brown/black water out due to inadequate flushing or not using inhibitor. If ALL the chemical is not removed it will rot the radiators from the inside out
There are generally two types of sludge, iron oxide (rust) which makes a reddish brown water and magnetite which is the black sludge.
Introduce oxygen via the water and you get rust as with any ungalvanised metals.
The magnetite is created via a battery type process, i.e. two metals one with a negative and one with a positive charge passing these charges through an electrolyte (the system water) and reacting with the oxygen in the water, via a chemical reaction you then have magnetite (magnetic black sludge) and hydrogen gas both of which will leave radiators cold at the top and/or bottom.
Most companies now require a power flush as part of an installation or even as remedial work but in my honest opinion it can be done quite easily on sealed systems (combis) and with some careful planning on open vented systems (tanks in loft) too.
In a heavily sludged system I recommend a mains flush with clean cold water combined with several heat ups of system and dumps of water. For very heavily sludged radiators remove from wall, fill with water, agitate and drain until water runs clear, a 2 man job and if big rads 2 strong men!!
CAUTION!! This method requires very careful use of the mains flush, the excessive pressure can cause radiators to blow or to pinhole if they are corroded already and the pressure is too high.
IN CONCLUSION
Leave this to the experts. I used to charge £200 for a system flush with up to 7 radiators and then a further £100 per four additional radiators when using this method. This method takes a full day!!They call me Mr Pig!0 -
Hi all,
I've just been quoted £592 for a poweflush from BG for 14 radiators and I'm booked in for next Friday. I'm now reading up and trying to decide if this is the right thing for me to do (I'm also a homecare customer).
I called out BG this week as our hot water was coming out lukewarm at best and nothing I did seemed to change that. The BG engineer came out and spent almost two hours looking at the boiler, checking the the pressure's, seeing if the pump was working and bleeding the air from all the radiators, nothing made a difference. He informed me that the boiler was cycling on and off which was causing the lack of hot water and that as the boiler appeared to be working correctly, a blockage would be the likely cause. He said that was either caused by air or sludge and because I hold told him how many of the radiators had large cold spots (in a hump at the bottom) and after he had bled all the radiators, he advised a powerflush.
I have yet to seek out quotes from independent sources, but from what I'm reading I'd be looking at around £400 for it done properly. According to the BG engineer, the price I pay them covers all future power flushes, so it seems a sensible choice to pay almost £200 more for that future coverage, even if it stings my wallet now. Additionally BG said they can fit the magnadoodle
for an extra £100 and they claim the part would normally cost £330 to be fitted on it's own. I'm erring against having that done as the engineer did say that with future power flushes being free, it's not really needed, but any advice on that would be welcome. Also, my gas bills over the winter were ridiculous, even when barely using it, so anything that helps the system run better and more efficient is hopefully going to save me money too.
Basically I'd like sensible opinions on what folks in my position would do. I don't have the time and confidence to try and flush the system myself, but I'm concerned as to whether the blockage is the likely cause of my hot water problems. To make matters worse, the boiler is hard to get parts for now. It's a Brittony system 40 or 60, sealed system and joy of joys the rads are connected by microball piping (copper I believe), if that's any help.0 -
Where do you live as I have been quoted £700 + vat for 10 radiators.? I llive in Greater London. Thanks0
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i am planning to get the homecare 200 plan with BG mainly beacuase our top floor 4 radiators are luke warm and the bottom 3 radiators are cold. we were out on a holiday for a month and when we came back the radiators were not getting heated up. the water is boiling hot thought and i dont think there is anything wrong with the system it's just that the radiators are not getting heated up. i bled the radiators for 2-3 minutes each yesterday and it did not work. i am pretty sure if i take the homecare 200 plan the engineer will tell me to go for powerflush at the cost of 300-400£ ... any advice?0
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In defence of BG engineers - when I started trying to sort out my system and one particularly dodgy radiator in particular, I got BG in for a quote. The engineer said as a first move I'd be better off taking off the rad and flushing it out in the garden with a hosepipe before paying out large amounts of money. He was the only person to suggest that - not that I did it, but still.
In the end I went with a local heating engineer who decided against powerflush because of the age of most of my rads and the fact that the piping is microbore and instead flushed out twice with Fernox. I also chose to have a Magnaclean fitted with my new boiler and I cannot believe how much stuff there was on it in the first couple of cleans. None of this has solved the really dodgy rad though despite actually changing it, so pipework needs looking at next.
What I'd like to know is how air gets into a sealed combi system? We had the new boiler put in the cupboard where the old hot water tank was, and my installer suggested I have a small radiator put in there to replace the heat I used to get from the very poorly lagged hot water tank. The other day when I put the ch on for the first time, I realised this radiator was almost entirely filled with air. How did it all get there?0 -
Hi, my disabled mother purchased a British Gas contract to cover her heating system in case of a breakdown.
Her heating system started to not get hot so she called BG to come have a look.
They said the boiler had a fault and the whole heating system needed a powerflush.
They also told her that British Gas would have to do the powerflush else they will not sort out her boiler.
Cost of about 6 to 700 pounds.
Is this correct please for I can get a registered plumber with all the badges to do this for £250, yet British Gas have told her that British Gas have to do it themselves else they will not fix her boiler.
Is this true please else I will be wasting £250 trying to get her heating back up.
Thanks in advance from Vince.0 -
I moved to BG for my Gas and Electric a year ago, and also took out their Homecare 200 plan. As part of the plan they came some months ago to do a service and recommended a Power Flush and quoted me over £800 (we have 19 radiators). I decided not to take them up on the 'offer'.
A couple of months ago, middle of the Summer, our boiler was sounding like a jet engine so I called out BG. Before the Engineer even set foot in the House he was recommeding the Power Flush we were quoted many months before. He said that the boiler was struggling to get the hot water around the central heating system - hence the struggling sound from the boiler. Now I'm no CH expert but afterwards I wondered why the boiler was struggling to get hot water around the CH system when it was turned off (this was in the summer), and surely the pump upstairs would be the one struggling, not the boiler.
Again, decided to leave it. This week BG have phoned to follow up on the quote - I told them I was not happy - and they have now stated that if we do not have the Power Flush and we have a problem in the future and they decide that it was caused by sludge build-up we will not be covered.
I now have the Area Service Manager coming to see me early November.
I am tempted to stop my service contract and find a local plumber to do the same job. I would also move my Gas and Electric to someone else.
Any thoughts out there?
Craig.0
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