Sludge flush failure DIY resolution (or how to do the proper & cheap job yourself).

[peteheat]

Re: Sludge flush failure DIY resolution (or how to do the proper & cheap job yourself

You had me going then Pete. It was a full system for 5k.

Looks to me like he implies his method will or may work instead of spending the £5,000.00

Best advice to consumers might be to ask why they need to replace the system?

 

[petercj]

Re: Sludge flush failure DIY resolution (or how to do the proper & cheap job yourself

Its a shame in my opinion that the powerflushing business can be open to abuse and
overcharging.

In this case it probably was a job for a professional for 99% of home owners but it was good to get the full story.

In other cases a full blown powerflush is not essential and chemicals introduced to the system and circulated for a period followed by a mains pressure flush thro will be
quite sufficient.

However after the job fitting a good magnetic and non mag filter is essential as is getting the central heating water condition correct.


centralheatking

Well said CHK - you put that so much more tactfully than I did in one of my previous posts!

To be honest, the OP lost me around the second paragraph (re dumping into the fish pond!!! :uhoh2: ) and so I can't claim to have fully comprehended the advice given.

But I do think your advice will be useful to anyone wanting to avoid planting 800 smackers in the bank of BG! :sifone:

CH filters these days seem to include bigger and bigger magnets which seem to stretch beyond the role of protecting boilers to offer some scope for system cleaning and maintenance, i.e. providing the water is not too muddied and the radiators are not bunged up with magnetite. So chemical treatment followed by a non-forensic mains flush, followed by fitting a filter, is probably a good answer to reasonably soiled systems.

I've wondered whether a magnacleanse type cleaning unit with a pump fitted to send a pulse through the system periodically to stir up magnetite in radiators could replace the conventional power flush machine. The idea being that it would be fitted to a system for 48 hours or so, and wouldn't need to have an operator present. Once the magnets were removed with the black stuff clinging to them, the job could be finished off by attaching a hose to the machine which would them pump fresh water through the system to complete the clean - once again employing the pulsing facility of the machine. The final step being to fit a filter to provide long-term protection and more regular cleaning at maintenance level.

If bspareltd is looking for a new project at some future date, perhaps he could give it some thought.

 

[peteheat]

Re: Sludge flush failure DIY resolution (or how to do the proper & cheap job yourself

All sectors of the business is open to abuse that's what competition is supposed to help eliminate.

Friend of mine left a Magnacleanse hooked up to a system for three days after using the vibrating hammer on the rads.

A week after taking it off the new boiler was sludged up and that was with a magnaclean fitted.

Some systems need the power flush, preferably by someone not watching the time because he is trying to do two jobs in the same day.

Each system is as unique as the original installer and method used, better to employ the person who attends to the small details such as why is the vent always pitching.

 

[Bronze_tap]

Re: Sludge flush failure DIY resolution (or how to do the proper & cheap job yourself

Dear All, Thanks everyone for the replies.

Of course 99% of locals would be better seeking a professional because, That sort of project is not for anyone, but for someone who has a degree in natural sciences and has a very sound understanding of physics and chemistry, thermo-/ liquid- dynamics. If you don't know how to fix a compression joint leak, or what a convection and Bernulli law is, or what are the advantages of the counter flow heat exchanger - don't even attempt it alone. But if you comply with above knowledge requirements, and as an academic are short of money, but have some free time than...

I might as well get my self a set of car mehanic tools and join the mehanic forum

That's quite interesting, because my friend who taught me the practical aspects of CH system cleaning does all the maintenance on his car himself (including the change of the engine head-gasket/car radiator upgrade). He uses the garage only for welding and MOT. His car has very low emissions, despite being 13y old... He drives it only 1-2 times a week despite working full time.
Myself I've fixed a driver's side door lock and jammed electrical window for my another friend. After packing his car lock's cylinder with grease he forgot that the Christmas is coming, because it had stopped freezing... Despite that, I never have had a car, because I don't need it...

Uprating pipework and putting faults right aside, power flush is lots easier/cheaper, Shirley.

True. If done properly and there is still more water than the sludge in the CH sys.

As for the carpets soiling... Plug the radiator's holes when carrying, and usually carpets are in a such dilapidated conditions in those properties that the bare board/solid wood floor so so much betters/healthier...

To be honest, the OP lost me around the second paragraph (re dumping into the fish pond!!! :uhoh2: )

Sorry for causing some confusion, but I say: a. "pond with NO FISH/life", b. I mean it to be used as a SOURCE of water for a HI POWER pump, not as a dump.

All sectors of the business is open to abuse that's what competition is supposed to help eliminate.
Some systems need the power flush, preferably by someone not watching the time because he is trying to do two jobs in the same day.
Each system is as unique as the original installer and method used, better to employ the person who attends to the small details such as why is the vent always pitching.

That's so true... So why when having a property on the full British Gas homecare plan nobody of their "professional's" bothered to check the pressure in the boiler's expansion vessel!!?? It was completely flat... Or hovered up one inch of debris (+a few hornets) at the bottom of combustion chamber?? Or told, that the the boiler was "safe" to use, despite having 1/2 of the heat exchanger blocked by dust/dirt and having a yellow flames +(lot's of CO))...

I thought before, that the British Gas should be a benchmark in the British competence and service...

 

[peteheat]

Re: Sludge flush failure DIY resolution (or how to do the proper & cheap job yourself

That's so true... So why when having a property on the full British Gas homecare plan nobody of their "professional's" bothered to check the pressure in the boiler's expansion vessel!!?? It was completely flat... Or hovered up one inch of debris (+a few hornets) at the bottom of combustion chamber?? Or told, that the the boiler was "safe" to use, despite having 1/2 of the heat exchanger blocked by dust/dirt and having a yellow flames +(lot's of CO))...

I thought before, that the British Gas should be a benchmark in the British competence and service...

Read more: http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/c...roper-cheap-job-yourself-2.html#ixzz2NWjVwnsM

Thankfully I don't have to answer for competence British Gas or our own (Irish) version Bord Gais employees / subby's.

The independent contractor has to build up his business by reputation or forever spend a fortune on advertising, those of us who have been in the business for a long time know that
"menu / package pricing" is only as profitable as the very small print that explains what's not covered, we don't have the time to be constantly trying to get our customers to buy the "upgrade plan".

I have seen the annual service being completed in as little as nine minutes, the boiler wasn't working properly but under the "Plan" a repair wasn't covered, however the boiler was Gas safe which
was covered in the small print.

Caveat Emptor.


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