DIY Power Flush - anyone done one?

[bassybert]

Merry Christmas everyone

We've moved into a house with a heating system that's badly in need of some TLC. Most of the rads have cold spots, the system water is brown, and there's a mouldy film sitting on top of the expansion tank in the loft.

I was going to do a normal system cleanse but feel that it probably needs something a little more forceful due to the level of crap in the system and seeing as I have quite a few days off this Christmas, I was thinking of hiring a power-flush from a local tool hire and doing it myself.

I'm a competent DIY'er and have been doing a bit of research into the process and it looks fairly straightforward.

Has anyone else done a power-flush themselves? How did you get on?

Thanks,

James

 

[eyespy999]

Hi James,

Last year my heating system failed due to sludge and debris so I hired a central heating flusher from HSS for the weekend.

I had to modify my system to allow the back flush to work (my diverter would not allow a back flush) but after a few hours work, using sentinel x800 for the flush followed by x100 to protect the system, my heating is now hotter and more efficient than ever before.

It can be a DIY job, just take your time and the results can be fantastic.

I placed the machine in the bath, removed the bathroom radiator and connected through the rad valves. Dirty water was flushed down the toilet on the dump cycle. The flusher I used had loose connectors on the pump hence the idea in the bath to stop water leaking onto the carpet!

I have an 8 rad system which took me the best part of a day to clean however I had a physical blockage which took plenty of flush / back flush to remove. It turned out it was installation debris that had come loose and had blocked a section of heating system, only a flush would of removed it as I had tried x800 on its own through a rad.

My rads were probably lime scaled up too but the results are amazing. The house heats up quickly, no boiler noise now or clod spots on the rads, too hot now to touch.

I did mine mid January so make sure you have some back up heat to keep you warm.

Good luck!

 

[bassybert]

Brilliant reply thanks very much eyespy, I'll give it a go and report back the results.

Regarding the X800, did you put the whole lot in at the beginning?

Thanks,

James

 

[eyespy999]

Once I had the machine running with no leaks with the system water circulating fine and all rad valves fully open I then tipped the x800 into the reservoir. I know some professional flushers use a more heavy duty chemical but the x800 doesn't need neutralising and I have used it quite a few times over the years. Make sure the rad you removed is given a good flush before you put it back on the system. I had a towel rad which was well and truly blocked up as the water passageways are quite narrow and needed back flushing too.