radiator water still brown after 12 flushes

[Muppetina]

Hello,

I changed a radiator last weekend, and the instructions said to use a system cleanser after installation.

So I bought a bottle bottle of system cleanser from B&Q, which said to add the cleanser, run system as hot as possible for at least an hour, and then repeatedly drain / refill system until water runs clean, before adding inhibitor.

Sounded fine in theory, but the problem is I've done 12 drain / refill cycles and water is still coming out tinged brown/orange.

Does this sound normal??? Is it really essential to flush until clear? Can't imagine how much time it's going to take.

I do have a bathroom towel rail where the design of the horizontal bars means that lots of water gets trapped. But even so it's hard to imagine why the water is still dirty after 12 flushes.

System was powerfluhed when the new boiler was fitted 5 years ago and inhibitor added, so am a bit surprised the water is this dirty.

~ Muppetina.

 

[McCarron]

If your radiators are sludged up, (bottom middle of rads are cold) you will need it powerflushed and dislodging

merely draining down and re fillling will not get rid of the sludge

if your system was powerflushed and treated correctly you shouldnt have any problem, unfortunately a high percentage of powerflushes are not done correctly!


to be honest its just another thing for the company to sell (cleanser) if it says put into system in there instructions.

 

[Muppetina]

Thanks for the info. All the rads heat up nice & quickly with no cold patches, so no worries on that front.

Was more worried in case the brown/orange water meant my system was corroding itself away super quickly, but I guess I should just chill !

~ Muppetina

 

[McCarron]

have a look at putting a filter on the heating system that will help your system out a bit

 

[ianmcd]

Do you have grey plastic Hep2O pipe in your radiator system ?

 

[JohnD]

did the first couple of draining come out black?

when you have got the insides of the steel radiators clean, every time you put fresh aerated water in, they will start to rust. So the orange tint will never stop.

If no more black is coming out, I'd fill it up using an inhibitor now.

 

[Muppetina]

all pipework is copper.

yes, the first couple of flushes contained more black gunk. now the water just has its orange tint.

Am tempted by the idea of fitting a filter, but I don't think I've got enough room to fit it on the return pipe. Have read loads of forum threads but it's not clear to me whether it's worth installing a filter if the only place I can fit it is on the flow...

thanks for all the tips once again.

~ Muppetina.

 

[JohnD]

Return pipe near to the boiler is best because it will in theory be able to catch particles before they enter the boiler. In fact however they don't catch 100% in one go so anywhere is a lot better than not having one.

It will cost you about £100 if you fit it yourself. Get the Sentinel or Spirotech. Magnacleans have a poor reputation for leaks although on a very dirty system (not like yours) they are spectacularly fast at collecting black sludge.

 

[Muppetina]

I went for the Spirotech MB3 and managed to fit it on the return where it passes through what used to be the airing cupboard.

Thanks again,
~ muppetina.

 

[JohnD]

squirt it into a jar and show us what you get

...it's interesting!

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