Magnaclean or Powerflush?

[thetinman]

Hi all, i've been reading other posts but decided to ask my own question. We have a 20 year old system which we have had problems with in our living room. We moved in about 1 year ago a noticed the large rad in their is cold at the bottom. We recently decorated and removed most of the downstairs rads and flushed them with a hose and saw sludge coming out of them. After researching it up, we tried using X400 and left it in for about 3 months drained the system and got rid of a bit more.

My real question is that with the X400 in it worked well and the rad was a lot hotter but since changing a broken thread on one of the TRVs we had to drain the system down again and it must of moved sludge around and now its barely hot at all.

What would be better given the circumstances, powerflush or a magnaclean?

 

[mickyg]

the best option is always a magnaclean AND a powerflush. but it depends how bad it is.
if you want to try some DIY, fit a magnaclean, then use X400 for a few weeks. Then flush and drain with clean water before filling with inhibitor.

 

[thetinman]

Where do you fit the magnaclean? on the CH vent pipe?

 

[skowi187]

you need to use a powerflush then possibly fit a magna clean afterwards. a magnaclean will only collect debris from water passing through it so wont really remove any stuck in the bottom of rads. fitting a magnaclean afterwards will help remove any leftovers and prevent this problem occuring in the future

 

[skowi187]

fit the magnaclean on the return pipe as close to the boiler as possible

 

[EliteHeat]

Where do you fit the magnaclean? on the CH vent pipe?

You could do, but the valves would make it illegal. Oh, and it wouln't do any good!

 

[JohnD]

It is certainly worth using a Magnaclean and X400. If you are able to take the rads off first and squirt them through with a hosepipe this will be good as well.

Drain the X400 after circulating it for 4 weeks as it gradually loses its power to loosen the sediment.

If you are lucky the X400 will loosen enough sediment to get you out of trouble, and the Magnaclean will capture any black particles that are circulating in the water (and will continue doing so indefinitely) so you are unlikely to get any new accumulations.

If the X400 and Magnaclean does the trick, you have saved yourself hundreds of pounds on a powerflush.

If not, you have spent £15 on chemicals and a bit of your time, which is not bad, plus £100 on the Magnaclean which is always a benefit, even after you have been flushed once, it will probably save you needing one ever again.

If you fit a Magnaclean I guarantee you wil be amazed and delighted at how much sludge it captures. I was, when I fitted one on my old mum's 30-year old system. I recently emptied it again, and had only 5ml more black sludge on it after running the heating for a couple of months.

I am just a householder.

 

[mickyg]

Where do you fit the magnaclean? on the CH vent pipe?

You could do, but the valves would make it illegal. Oh, and it wouln't do any good!

Why wouldn't it do any good? and whats the problem with fitting it on the return to the boiler exactly? why is it illegal?

 

[skowi187]

you cannot have isolation valves on a vent pipe. fitting it on the return is fine. it is illegal on the vent pipe because where would the expansion of water travel whn the heating gets hot???

 

[thetinman]

I don't think i have enough room in my airing cupboard for magnaclean can't work out which pipe it needs to be attached to, but i would consider doing the powerflush myself and hiring the equipment.

 

[JohnD]

perhaps you can put it next to the boiler

 

[thetinman]

no room their either mate. i think i'm better of powerflushing and filling with an inhibitor, and maintaing the inhibitor annually.

 

[mickyg]

it is illegal on the vent pipe because where would the expansion of water travel whn the heating gets hot???

yes your right, your not supposed to fit an isolation on the vent pipe. But nobody has suggested doing this so its irrelevant. I also love this term "illegal". If someone did do it, should they expect the plumbing police to come round? I would call it "bad practice"

 

[tonybhoy]

You fit it as close top the boiler as possible on the heating return. You only need about 180MM of pipework however you need to be able to get the magnet out which means you have to have about 250 MM clearance above . You can fir them in any orientation though but for cleaning purposes they are best fitted verticle.

 

[mickyg]

fit it between pump and motorised valve(s). next best place after boiler return.