Powerflush

[britishboy7]

Had BGas round to service my Potterton boiler and they replaced the central heating pump in the airing cupboard, and the guy advised a powerflush. He said BG do it for about £800, but it should be a lot cheaper with an independent plumber so to ring round for prices. He said the sludge in the pipes probably caused the CH pump to fail.

Iv'e got some Fernox F3 I bought at the weekend, isit worth trying a drain down and add that for a week then drain it again, before paying out for the powerflush? Or is a powerflush worth it for the extra cost?

4 bed semi, think its called open system (I have 2 tanks in the loft) and 11 radiators (2 of these are towel rails). I'm in Essex, any ideas of cost?

Also, is the magnetic filter worth getting as an extra? Been told its about £80?

 

[JohnD]

powerflush will be £hundreds. BG usually charge more than others. See if you can get a recommendation from friends and neighbours. At this time of year heating people are getting busy.

A DIY chemical clean is cheap and easy if you like plumbing, and is certainly worth a try, it is likely to do some good. You may have some sediment that has formed a hard mass with limescale and is difficult to remove. I have used acid cleaners in the past but they are more aggressive and might cause damage.

The filter is very worthwhile, it will trap circulating particles before they can collect into a blockage.

 

[britishboy7]

Thanks JohnD
Had a quote for £350 inclusive to do the whole system of 11 radiators, plus another £120 to supply and fit the magnetic filter. Where is the filter actually located please?

Are we allowed to say where the quote is from, for feedback?

 

[simond]

A quote is a quote, no more no less; see if they turn all the rads off and powerflush them one by one, see if they agitate each rad, see if they have a magnetic dirt separator.

If the system is dirty, expect it to take 5-6hrs. If it gets done markedly quicker, or without the steps above, you've wasted your £350.

Also worth pointing out that we regularly get asked to quote against a BG recommended powerflush. And we always say to the customer' "What if we do the Powerflush, charge you £540 (that's our starting rate), and it does not cure the problem BG attributed to needing one?"

A Powerflush is a 'get out of jail free card' for a difficult system on contract. Sometimes you are better off calling their bluff and paying the money. At least you can then ask for it back afterwards.

 

[britishboy7]

Thanks Simond
Makes a lot of sense, i did read elsewhere it will take best part of a day. We hope to be replacing 3 or 4 of the radiators in the system in the next few months (purely for aesthetics, although one of them is the sludged up one) so wasnt sure on having the powerflush before changing the radiators. I'm worrying if its contributed to the knackered CH pump we had replaced, what damage it the sludge and stuff doing to the already quite old boiler?

Or have it powerflushed after changing the radiators so it has an even cleaner path through the rest of the system because the problem rad(s) have bene replaced anyway?

 

[simond]

In the short term you could take all, or indeed one of the rads off and hose them outside - this was the method that worked well before the Powerflush machine was invented. Wasn't very friendly to white Wilton carpets though.

It is also a very quick, cheap and unequivocal way of determining whether sludge is indeed the significant problem, you will find sludge affects the double panels first because the water velocity halves on its way through, allowing grot in suspension to settle out.

 

[alan333]

When we had problems with our heating Scottish Gas recommended their expensive powerflush. However I'd like to point out that their price wasn't just for a powerflush - it was to get the system working properly, ie if they had to lift carpets/floorboards to access manifolds etc then it was within their price. They also fit a magnaclean style filter and guarantee their work, ie if it ever needs powerflushed again it's on them (although I'm pretty sure you need to continue to have a maintenance contract with them to keep the guarantee).