Power flush machine

[Thoggy]

Hi all
i am in the process of buying a power flush machine and was looking for some advice on which to go for, I've heard of the one with the magnetic in but is that just a system cleaner with no power flushing abilities.
Not looking to spend thousands, just want a decent easy to use and reliable machine.
Thanks Martyn.

 

[Ermintrude]

See thread on power flush vs mag. In central heating

 

[AWheating]

about £1100-£1400 should get you everything you need to powerflush properly.

 

[mountainman]

Expensive aren't they!

 

[Dickie]

about £1100-£1400 should get you everything you need to powerflush properly.

Powerflush machines are not required on many systems, most Plumbers buy them & they sit unused in their garage or workshop for most of the year. I think I paid just over £400 for mine, rarely use it or find I need to use it. A few Mains water flushes & hot flush can work wonders, and cost nothing!!
Paying over £1K for a machine is just daft!!

 

[AlexGas]

Powerflush machines are not required on many systems, most Plumbers buy them & they sit unused in their garage or workshop for most of the year. I think I paid just over £400 for mine, rarely use it or find I need to use it. A few Mains water flushes & hot flush can work wonders, and cost nothing!!
Paying over £1K for a machine is just daft!!

I think Martyn wants install boilers and powerflush existing pipework prior to that. Proper powerflush is a must!
Why would you want phone calls from your customers – my boiler’s packed up in no time!
Do it properly!
You get what you pay for. It's a joy to work with a dissent kit.

 

[lame plumber]

from what I see those who buy a decent power flush unit suddenly find lots of systems needing a good flush through and once its paid for it ends up in the back of the store until its flogged or they come across a really gunged up system again.

 

[SimonG]

I'm hiring one next week. Second time in the last eight years.

 

[jtsplumbing]

I bought one when I lived near Ascot, ( Kemco £1400), even did their power flush course paid for its self in a few weeks, moved back to Cornwall in 2003, got used once on a mates house as a favour , has now sat in the garage since 2004, not found a system that needs it ! good clean with F5, Magnetic filter , job done never had a call back

 

[AWheating]

it all depends on what work you do, i know somebody who only does powerflushing and is busy 6 days a week. Tell him the few thousand he has spent on his two machines was a waste of money, he will think your an idiot LOL.

powerflushing is not to only help avoid new boiler problems, system energy efficiency is very important especially with todays fuel bills. so you may find not removing the sludge stuck in the system and rads will not mean it will ever get back to the new boiler you have fitted but removing the sludge may save you customer money.

 

[jtsplumbing]

it all depends on what work you do, i know somebody who only does powerflushing and is busy 6 days a week. Tell him the few thousand he has spent on his two machines was a waste of money, he will think your an idiot LOL.

powerflushing is not to only help avoid new boiler problems, system energy efficiency is very important especially with todays fuel bills. so you may find not removing the sludge stuck in the system and rads will not mean it will ever get back to the new boiler you have fitted but removing the sludge may save you customer money.

Yes understand what you are saying, But in currant climate find customer doesn't want to spend out the extra money for a power flush, it does get offered on a lot of jobs but people on a tight budget ! probably more-so in my part of the world

 

[Dickie]

No Powerflush machine will cleared choked 8mm microbore pipes, £1.5K or not.

Oh if you use it every day then I can see the point of splashing out big bucks, but most in my view just don't have a lot of that type of work, to justify the money.
Mains flush & chemicals will do the job in most cases.

 

[jtsplumbing]

That's what I use Dickie, When I lived near Ascot I made sure I had the bookings to cover the cost of the machine B4 I bought it, and had to buy the bigger one (CF90) because of the size of some of the houses, if I was living down here would not have bought one, systems don't seam to sludge up as much as they did around Ascot / Windsor.

 

[AWheating]

Yes understand what you are saying, But in currant climate find customer doesn't want to spend out the extra money for a power flush, it does get offered on a lot of jobs but people on a tight budget ! probably more-so in my part of the world

I agree its a hard sell to alot of customers and you can loose a sale when you add £100-150 to a quote. I mainly mains flush on my boiler changes due to the nature of the contract work i do. I personally know many "mains flushes" done by alot of engineers do not get close to meeting the british standards and a mains flush can take a number of hours done correctly as its the same proceedure in theroy apart from setting up the machine on the old system.

Some times i think sticking my machine on even for an hour or two would be alot better job in a simular time, if possible (100lpm flowing for an hour over 15-20 lpm for an hour). It does all come down to money tho and the customer will always get what they are willing to pay for.