very noisy boiler...will flushing help

[moneypenny]

I have a gravity fed boiler 9 years old although the radiators and pipe work are considerably older than that.

Some time ago I had to have the system drained twice for work to be carried out and a cleaner was put in the system, but not flushed through, first time this has been done for some time and since then it has become very noisy loud bangs at regular intervals. I suspect there is dirt floating around when I took a radiator off to decorate I found what looked like lumps of scale in the dregs I poured out.

I had a plumber ...semi retired... look at it with a view to flushing but said there was no guarantee it would would work if he did it and that if I contacted anyone else to be sure and ask for one and he would guarantee they would not give me one because nobody could give a guarantee for that job.

Anyone out there with a view on this that would help.

 

[JohnD]

if the pipes are copper you (or a plumber) can easily fit a magnaclean to it. This traps and retains the black sediment, whether in lumps or so fine that it is held in suspension in the water.

You can then add a cleaning chemical which will loosen the black sediment which has settled and hardened in various places, and because the Magnaclean traps it, it will not re-settle somewhere else. this method is much more effective than a plain water flush, or using the chemical on its own.

If you problem is black sediment from the corrosion of steel radiators, this will help a lot. there is no guarantee that it will cure your problem though as there might be other faults, especially if the system has been leaking and being topped up with fresh or hard water over a long period.

However it will probably take a couple of afternoons of your time, and cost you about £15 for the chemical and £100 for the magnaclean, so it's worth a go and will do nothing but good. Leaving the sediment in there will make things worse and one day you will probably get a blockage. It will then be too late to clean it as described.

Paying someone for a powerflush will cost you several hundred pounds and will still not have a guarantee.

 

[kevindgas]

Paying someone for a powerflush will cost you several hundred pounds and will still not have a guarantee.

and could leave you with leaks on an old system. try the magnaclean route

 

[JohnD]

people will be thinking I own the company

but I got very good results on my old mums CH system like that. Took me an afternoon to drain down, add a full-bore drainoff and fit the Magnaclean, refill with X4; another afternoon a week later to drain down again, replace a seized bleed plug, fit a couple of extra drainoffs, fit a couple of TRVs, change a worn lockshield, rinse, refill with X1.

Opening the Magnaclean and scraping the sludge off takes a couple of minutes. It is still finding dregs at the rate of about a teaspoonful per week.

I have not fitted one in my own house because the system is so clean (I trial fitted one for a few days, there is practically no circulating black in it)

 

[Agile]

If you must fit a Magnaclean do make sure you fit a gauze filter on the outlet as the magnet will not attract any lime based particles.

A much cheaper alternative is a plain gauze filter with isolating valves. parts cost about £10. Its then a 10 minute job to clean it every few days until most of the dirt is removed. However, ignore the arrows on the casing and fit it with the drain plug downwards.

Tony

 

[moneypenny]

I will be looking at the magnaclean for sure. thanks all

 

[Breesey]

Sounds like the heat exchanger is scaled up causing kettling in the boiler. Any number of magnacleans won't shift that!

 

[giblets]

I'd go along with Breezy.

Many years ago used to carry out acid cleaning to old Diplomats & the like so solve this problem.