Sludged up radiator

[kellihall]

1 of my upstairs radiators isn't heating up very well. I believe it has sludge in it as the bottom 1/3 is colder. I have looked in ym header tank in the attic and it looks dirtyish.

Do i need to remove this radiator to flush it out or should i clean the whole system out??

I have heard somewhere (can't remember where though) about gently tapping a sluged radiastor with a soft mallet? Will this work / help at all?

Thanks for helping everybody, I am very very thankful.

 

[fatplumber]

Not normal for upper rads to sludge first. Open the lockshied fully an see.

 

[kellihall]

have tried with lockshield and trv fully open and still the same

 

[JohnD]

if you like simple plumbing. take it off, empty it into a bucket, turn it upside down, carry it into the garden and wash it through with a hosepipe. That is a good way of getting a single rad clean.

While the rad is off, turn on the rad valves one at a time to squirt into a bucket and see what flow you get, and if sludge comes out

Bale out the F&E tank and sponge it clean to remove the mud

For only £15 you can buy a litre of Sentinel X400 which will soften existing sludge and let it wash round on the pump, run it for about 4 weeks before draining it out and rinsing it, this is a cheap and fairly easy DIY way to get a lot of loose sediment out. It will not clear a blocked pipe though if there is absolutely no circulation for the chemical to travel through it. As it is summer now, you can run the pump with the boiler turned down to save energy. If you close the rad valves, and open one of them at a time, full, at each end, it will give a better flow through that rad to loosen the sludge. I assume you do not have a combi so turn the pump speed to high (look at the F&E tank to check it is not pumping over)

If you can afford £100 and fit a Magnaclean, I guarantee you will be amazed and delighted to see how much black sediment it traps out of the water. plumbing it in is fairly easy while the system is drained.

I am a householder not a pro but have done all this.

Tapping the rad with a rubber mallet during flushing is supposed to loosen sediment and help it be washed away. Not everyone approves of it. If you have X400 in the water and preferably a Magnaclean fitted, I expect those bits will wash away and get trapped. Otherwise, you would not want them to float around and get stuck in the pump or anywhere

 

[steved101]

John has given you some good advice, but on replacing the radiator, use some PTFE (about 3-4 turns) on the old olives and smear some jointing compound over the PTFE tape (if you have any) - this will help make a good watertight seal on re-fitting.

Also be careful, sometimes sludge can be covering up holes/micro holes in radiators, that on flushing - may leak!!

 

[kellihall]

Hi

Thank you all for helping

Is it better for me to remove the radiator as John suggested, or to add sludge remover to the header tank??

If i do will the loosened sludge damage the pump and 3 port valve?

I have never done this before, but am confident of doing it, just need to be sure first! (and do it the right way)

If i choose to remove the radiator, ptfe tape around the olives is good and stops any little leak if the olive is slightly worn?

John - if i clean out the header tank, do i need to shut off the supply first??

Thanks again all/.

 

[JohnD]

in preferred order

FIRST TURN OFF THE BOILER AND TAKE THE FUSE OUT SO NO-ONE CAN TURN IT ON

1) tie up the ball float

2) bale out the mud from the F&E and sponge it clean

3) close the valves at both ends of your problem rad

4) slacken one of the rad valve unions and let the water dribble into an emulsion tray or similar, tip it into a bucket, have a towel handy, undo the bleed valve to let it suck air in and flow better

5) when empty, undo both the rad unions and lift it off its brackets, dirty water will run out of the lower end. Then turn it upside down so no more comes out, take it into the garden and hose it through until clean

6) put your tray under one of the rad valves and turn it on briefly, see if water squirts out freely and if it brings any sediment with it. Then close it and do the other valve. If there is a lot of sediment from one of the pipes, run it until it is fairly clean. You will have to untie the ball valve in the F&E if you drain more than a bucketful, or it may run dry.

You have now done as much as you can with the problem rad. Re-fit it, using PTFE tape on the connections.

Fit a Magnaclean if you can afford it. Put it on a vertical 22mm pipe on the return to the boiler. The Magnaclean will trap the particles of black sediment. If you do not have one, I would hesitate to bang the rads. The X400 will loosen most of the black sediment so that it flows round in the water.

Tip your litre of X400 into the clean F&E tank and let it refill. As you have drawn off a bucket of water from the valves, and a similar amount from the radiator, the chemical will mix when you untie the ball valve, and will be drawn down into the system (it is no good if it stays in the F&E tank)

Open the rad valves and bleed the rad, check for leaks

Run the circulating pump for 4 weeks or so before draining and rinsing and using X100 on final fill.