No heating or hot water with radiators removed.

[ianmcd]

yes , good advice not a big job to cut out the pipework and give it a good clean, clean the F&E tank at the same time and get some X 400 in there to soften everything else up, then drain flush and X100 dont be tempted to use X800 its too aggressive, if your system doesnt have a drain point use one of the valves on one of the radiators that you have removed, just attach a hose to it and close the inlet valve to the F&E tank or tie up the ballcock, but definately clean out the F&E tank or the problem will come back, we normally use a wet vac, but can be done without one with a bit of patience

 

[JohnD]

on the big "return" pipe that goes into the boiler. This is not as hot as the "flow" pipe.

notionally it is best shortly before it enters the boiler, on the supposition that it will catch all particles before they enter it.

In fact, not every particle is caught on the first pass. There may be quite a bit caught for a month or more. But the amount gradually reduces until there is so little that you only need to look inside once a year.

 

[ianmcd]

yes , good advice not a big job to cut out the pipework and give it a good clean, clean the F&E tank at the same time and get some X 400 in there to soften everything else up, then drain flush and X100 dont be tempted to use X800 its too aggressive, if your system doesnt have a drain point use one of the valves on one of the radiators that you have removed, just attach a hose to it and close the inlet valve to the F&E tank or tie up the ballcock, but definately clean out the F&E tank or the problem will come back, we normally use a wet vac, but can be done without one with a bit of patience

 

[pieceofmind]

Guys thank you so much for your help with this!

 

[pieceofmind]

Bringing this thread back with an update as I finally found the time to cut out the blocked pipework. This raises a couple of questions you guys might be able to answer. First the pictures:

 

[pieceofmind]

Now the questions: The overwhelming majority of the blockage was in a section of pipe between the F&E tank and a tap valve in the airing cupboard below. Also the tank itself was sludged up to buggery. So for corrosion to be entering the tank it must be constantly coming in through the expansion? Surely that shouldn't be happening unless something's wrong? Also would some kind of particulate filter on the exit of the tank not be a good idea to stop this crap going back into the pipework? I can't seem to find such a product, so maybe nothing like it exists?

 

[ianmcd]

Try getting everything as clean as you possibly can, and get some inhibitor in to the system after cleaning and see what happens from there

 

[pieceofmind]

Yeah I've cut and fitted some new pipework. I'm waiting for a magna clean to arrive and I'm also going to rig up a flexi connector between the mains water feed and the central heating inlet, so that I can purge it with mains pressure. Then I'll put some x400 in and run it for a bit. Any thoughts on what I said above, re; there actually being a problem with the system that's allowing magnetite to be pumped via the return to the header tank?

 

[ianmcd]

you wont really know until you get the pipe system properly cleaned , and then see if it is pumping over or if everything settles , All F&E tank over pumping etc are always down to system design and/or lack of maintenance

 

[pieceofmind]

Ah ok. Thank you!