A little question about servicing

[shocking mod]

I have talked to a couple of people about servicing and read some stuff about it on the net.

Normally the filters are cleaned but the water is not cleaned and flushed as the plumber has to wait for 2 hours or so depending on inhibitor and flushing would take more time, though I am not talking about magnacleanse.

So the 2 people said that they do add inhibitor. Just curious as to what inhibitor they add as you cannot mix inhibitors, how do they know which inhibitor was used previously.

 

[sammathias]

Alot of my servicing is on systems I've installed so I do tend to just top up with half litre of mc1 whilst I'm checking the filter. If it's a boiler I didn't install I'd check the filter (if there is one) test the water and go from there.

 

[king of pipes]

If it's a system I had installed or is on a service contract then it would be protected with adey products , you can buy a test kit and most plumbing merchants which you can send away for chemical testing , failing that drain and flush every 5 years and protect with a good inhibitor . Cheers kop

 

[Rob Foster]

If the boiler is under guarantee and it goes lala the first thing the boiler company engineer does is test the water for correct strenght chemicals, if not correct off he goes bye bye no guarantee chemical strenght should be tested at each annual service its only a little bit of fancy paper and a drop of radiator water at the end of the day. Modern boilers are very delicate units

 

[Best]

I don’t know of any service people who check the system water quality.

 

[Rob Foster]

I don’t know of any service people who check the system water quality.

Boiler manufacturer fellas have to but maybe there are some on here who can let us know - have a nice weekend

 

[Harvest Fields]

If it's a system I had installed or is on a service contract then it would be protected with adey products , you can buy a test kit and most plumbing merchants which you can send away for chemical testing , failing that drain and flush every 5 years and protect with a good inhibitor . Cheers kop

Yep

 

[shocking mod]

Thanks for all the replies. I was a little surprised at how long a flush takes 20mins drain, open all valves 5 radiators 1 towel rack 1 Adey filter than wait another 10 or 15 minutes for a living room radiator to stop dripping down to the last drop. Than close all 7 valves and drain cock. Fill up to pressure. Than another 10 minutes to release air from 7 valves. Than refill with water and than drain air out again.

I think there is no short cut you cannot just have refill on and drain cock open water seems to go straight in and straight out of the CH.

I was not going to do this 7 times and just added inhibitor though the water was probably more coloured yellow than dirty yellow.

And filter was dirty all over the magnet. I noticed dirt also at the very bottom of the filter but you need to pump all the water out of the filter to notice it removed with this tissues and added 250ml mc1 to filter as it is a 5 radiator system.

Rather time consuming so not surprised that plumbers miss this step sometimes....

Though my toyota radiator flush takes a week due to releasing air slowly.

 

[king of pipes]

No short cuts bud other than using a wet vac to aid draining but you now have peace of mind your system is protected and running efficiently. Cheers kop

 

[Rob Foster]

I speed things up two ways
1. connect 1.....system drain to mains water feed ie outside tap and out thro another turn boiler valves off and give the system a blast if is a conventional system watch out for the H & E tank overflowing - or stick a champagne cork into the 3/4 header and close the gate valve.
2 get a nice magnet and go along rad bottoms to agitate ferric sludge
let the out hose out onto the road or path to see when dirty water is finally running clear the dirt will ebb and flow if there is already chemicals in the system you can tell because usually wriggly worms appear and go balistic before they die
there you go 40 years practical in 2 mins

 

[AWheating]

A flush is not just draining and refilling a system.