Powerflush and magnaclean filter

[ewi]

Hi,

Just had British Gas round to refit a radiator that had come off the wall and while emptying it found all this black sludge. The engineer recommended a powerflush and a magnaclean filter. On checking these forums I can see that both seem to be a good idea, he quoted £704 for the job, just wondered if this was a good price for the job, we have 13 radiators in the house.

Thanks
Steve

 

[JohnD]

BG are generally the most expensive, but they will give some kind of guarantee. If you had been able to fit a Magnaclean earlier, and use some chemicals, it is a DIY job and would probably have saved you the cost of needing a powerflush. If you have no blockages yet, and BG have not said that the Powerflush is ESSENTIAL then you could still do it. Then you can put the other £500 or so in the bank in case of later need.

 

[croydoncorgi]

On an old, neglected system with no inhibitor chemical in the water, SOME sludge is (depresssingly) normal. How much sludge did you mean by 'all this'? If it was less than a dessert spoonful, and black rather than brown, I'm unimpressed!

Whether you decide a flush is worthwhile depends really on the depth of your pockets and whether the system is actually faulty because of sludge. Also, flushing will NEVER remove 100% of it anyway. The reason it's so expensive is it takes a long time (probably, BG is estimating 2 blokes for a day, plus some chemicals). Another symptom to look out for is cold spots at the bottom of rads, where a pile of sludge is stopping the water flow.

If there's no other fault, the most cost-effective option may be to fit a Magnaclean (to stop sludge getting into the boiler) and add inhibitor (to prevent further corrosion). If a fault does occur later, you can then decide to have a flush.

 

[ewi]

JohnD,

Thanks for the quick reply. We've only been in the house since November last year and have never experienced this problem before so wouldn't even have thought of checking. On the quote from BG it does state essential work and as I am not really much of a DIYer (putting up the odd shelf is about my limit) looks like it may have to be BG.

 

[Agile]

The open market rate for power flushing is £350-£450 for a smaller three bed house.

You have rather more rads and if the house is larger it might be a bit more.

In our case the price also depends on how dirty the system is. If there are no cold spots on the rads though it would be the lower price and we might also suggest chemical cleaning instead at about £180.

A Magnaclean is about £100 plus about £100 to fit but if you get one ensure that a gauze filter is fitted at the outlet.

Tony

 

[ewi]

croydoncorgi,


The system is about 8 years old (the house built in 1999) and according to their records BG recommended a powerflush to the previous owners in 2000 but BG weren't asked to do the job so not sure if it was done. The water with the sludge was black and at least covered the bottom of a washing up bowl so there seemed to be quite a lot. Can't say I've noticed any cold spots on the bottom of radiators (I normally check the tops for trapped air) and even with the dismal summer this year the heating is on much but when it is I'll check the bottom of the rads.


The problem is I'm not into DIY especially when it comes to plumbing as a small mistake can lean to a very wet house and so I wouldn't be tackling takling this sort of job.

 

[gas4you]

My price would be £530 + VAT for your powerflush, so with adding the magnaclean and the lifetime warranty BG give, I think for once they are reasonable.

 

[nickso]

the magnaclean price alone from BG is £268ish. the national powerclean price is £568 and guaranteed for life of contract and dependant on you keeping the inhibitor levels up.

it will be one bloke who does it.

he shouldnt have told you the previous owners were told to powerflush before....naughty boy

if there is any doubt i would get it done. now that you have been told to do it they have all sorts of get out clauses for any work they deem to be caused by poor water. could be even more costly in the future if you ignore it now.

 

[ewi]

The price breakdown was £568 for the powerflush and if we get the magnaclean done at the same time it would be £136 (it is normally closer to £300).

It's a lot of money and for peace of mind and to ensure that my current maintenance agreement with BG is not invalidated I think I'll have to stump up the cash and go for it.

Thanks to everyone for their advice it has certainly helped and although a lot of money it doesn't seem to be overpriced.

 

[heatingeng]

Hi

Just had British Gas round to refit a radiator that had come off the wall and while emptying it found all this black sludge. The engineer recommended a powerflush and a magnaclean filter. On checking these forums I can see that both seem to be a good idea, he quoted £704 for the job, just wondered if this was a good price for the job, we have 13 radiators in the house.

Thanks
Steve

just as an idea this company charges £245 and they offer 5 year warrenty

http://www.powerflushingin.com/
http://www.cheapcentralheating.co.u...-powerflush-in-leeds-power-flush-plumber.html
http://www.magnaclean.org/blog/

and i would say most companys would be there or there abouts.

 

[heatingeng]

sorry i just noticed how old the thread is

 

[PowerFlushAssociation]

Larger companies charge a lot more than smaller specialist companies because they have higher over heads, this cost gets passed on to their clients. The equipment, skill and chemicals are the same, but smaller companies are much more affordable - in general.

 

[craig51]

Also, Bgas over a lifetime guarantee with the flush. IE, if it ever comes back, they will reflush. Also, they will clear any blockages prior to flush, and 99% ofg the time replace the pump head once finshed. Will on my patch this is standard practice.

 

[heatingeng]

Also, Bgas over a lifetime guarantee with the flush. IE, if it ever comes back, they will reflush. Also, they will clear any blockages prior to flush, and 99% ofg the time replace the pump head once finshed. Will on my patch this is standard practice.

Only if the customers pays the rip off charge of about £800 and then around £300 per year for a service contract.
BG tell people that they need a powerflush when one is not required in my experience. I worked for BG for many years and I am aware of all the scams.
Service managers making engineers sell and if not they lose there job.
BG is a joke and more and more people are seeing the truth.

 

[craig51]

£800?

Powerflush with filter is £709inc vat

So, break it down,

Filter = £80
Fernox protector = £16
Pump Head = £50 ish?

So £146 for 'Parts'

That leaves £565, or £70 quid an hour. Dont forgot, this also includes all materials, so any pipes required when cutting out bloackages, rebalancing the system, and the lifetime guareentee. Yes there will always be someone cheaper, but no one offers the lifetime, nor will they offer a fixed price, even if something goes wrong.

I'm certainly not a BG fan boy, but, for the general punter and peace of mind, you pay for what you get if you ask me. If seen jobs were the customer gleefully tells me its been 'power flsuhed' only for me to empty a rad and what looks like oil comes out. When quizzed, they tell me no machine was used, but he did remove all the rads!!!!!