Hello,

What are your opinions on power flushing? I am about to have a new
boiler fitted. Should I hire a power flush machine or is a hose pipe
connected to the CH circuit just as good?

If I borrow a pressure washer, can that be put to any use? How?

Thanks,
Stephen.

On Aug 14, 1:35*pm, Stephen
wrote:
Hello,

What are your opinions on power flushing? I am about to have a new
boiler fitted. Should I hire a power flush machine or is a hose pipe
connected to the CH circuit just as good?

If I borrow a pressure washer, can that be put to any use? How?

I had my heating system power flushed three years ago at the same time
as having a new boiler installed and conversion to a sealed
pressurised system. Before that the system hadn't been touched since
the house was built 15 years previously and the radiators were
probably 50 percent sludged up. After flushing, all the radiators heat
evenly and the water still runs clear when I (very occasionally) drain
off the air from the bathroom rad. IMO it was definitely well worth
doing.

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:35:03 +0000, Stephen wrote:

Hello,

What are your opinions on power flushing? I am about to have a new
boiler fitted. Should I hire a power flush machine or is a hose pipe
connected to the CH circuit just as good?

If I borrow a pressure washer, can that be put to any use? How?

Thanks,
Stephen.

This depends on a number of factors.

1) How bad the existing system is.
2) What equipment you have to hand.
3) Whether your time is costing you, someone else or not.

Every method has its strengths and weaknesses.

Power flush: equpiment is about £500 or hire for £50-$100.
Fairly quick and can deal with fairly bad systems.

Using the mains filling point:
Only if the mains is fairly good, fairly quick, cheap.

Removing each radiator in turn and pressure wash, or flush with good mains
hose whilst vibrating the radiator if possible:
Best method. Slowest method, (not economically possible for
professionals). Allows you to discard radiator if it can't be rescued in
the worst case.

Chemicals assist in the process, they are not a substitute for the
flushing process.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Ed Sirett wrote:


Removing each radiator in turn and pressure wash, or flush with good
mains hose whilst vibrating the radiator if possible:
Best method. Slowest method, (not economically possible for
professionals).

I washed mine out with a hose a little while ago - making up an adaptor
which allowed me to connect the hose directly to one of the inlets - and
then to the other one - both the right way up and upside down so that the
rad filled with water.

That seemed to work but - as Ed suggests - was somewhat time-consuming.

Ed: what's this about vibrating the radiator? - how? - at what frequency?

Also, how does one use a pressure washer for this application? I have one
for patio cleaning etc., but didn't attempt to use it on the radiators since
I had no way of directly connecting it, and wasn't convinced that just
'skirting' water through an inlet would do much good.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:09:09 +0100, Roger Mills wrote:

In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Ed Sirett
wrote:




That seemed to work but - as Ed suggests - was somewhat time-consuming.

Ed: what's this about vibrating the radiator? - how? - at what
frequency?

I have seen, (and it's on my wish list) a rubber block which can be put
into an SDS (w. rotor stop) drill. The idea is to give the rad some
diffuse but serious knocks whilst flushing.



Also, how does one use a pressure washer for this application? I have
one for patio cleaning etc., but didn't attempt to use it on the
radiators since I had no way of directly connecting it, and wasn't
convinced that just 'skirting' water through an inlet would do much
good.

Some fittings might be called for, there are some designs where this would
enable a powerful jet to directly remove the sludge.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html