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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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Flushing Central Heating
A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs
it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? |
#2
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Flushing Central Heating
On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote:
A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? Chances are that any blockages are *inside* the radiators rather than in the pipes. Best way of dealing with that is to take all the rads off and take them outside and flush each one out with a hosepipe. Then flush the pipes (with the rads out) by opening one radiator valve at a time until the water runs clear. -- Cheers, Roger ____________ Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom checked. |
#3
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Flushing Central Heating
Roger Mills wrote in
: On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote: A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? Chances are that any blockages are *inside* the radiators rather than in the pipes. Best way of dealing with that is to take all the rads off and take them outside and flush each one out with a hosepipe. Then flush the pipes (with the rads out) by opening one radiator valve at a time until the water runs clear. I am thinking that the lowest pipes are likely to be sludged. The rads had new TRVs fitted a couple of years ago so some draining down was done. why the heck don't all plumbers fit and exterior drain point???? |
#4
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Flushing Central Heating
On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote:
A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? We had our radiators balanced a couple of years ago as 1 radiator was never getting as warm as all the others, but now it does. |
#5
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Flushing Central Heating
On 05/03/2014 16:53, DerbyBorn wrote:
why the heck don't all plumbers fit and exterior drain point???? Well, this *is* DIY - why don't *you*? I've got drain lockshields on all my rads, making it easy to drain individual rads without spilling any water. Since it's a vented system, if I remove a rad to decorate behind it, I can put the drained water back into the F&E tank so as not to lose the inhibitor. That wouldn't apply if I were doing a system flush, of course. -- Cheers, Roger ____________ Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom checked. |
#6
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Flushing Central Heating
On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote:
A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? So long as you isolate the various parts of the system so that you are flushing each individual bit in sequence, it should not really matter. The procedure is described he http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...g_ Procedures -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#7
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Flushing Central Heating
On 05/03/2014 16:53, DerbyBorn wrote:
Roger Mills wrote in : On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote: A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? Chances are that any blockages are *inside* the radiators rather than in the pipes. Best way of dealing with that is to take all the rads off and take them outside and flush each one out with a hosepipe. Then flush the pipes (with the rads out) by opening one radiator valve at a time until the water runs clear. I am thinking that the lowest pipes are likely to be sludged. The rads had new TRVs fitted a couple of years ago so some draining down was done. why the heck don't all plumbers fit and exterior drain point???? If Microbore (8/10mm) then blockage in the pipes is quite possible especially if inhibitor wasnt added when the TRVs were installed. |
#8
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Flushing Central Heating
robert wrote in
: On 05/03/2014 16:53, DerbyBorn wrote: Roger Mills wrote in : On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote: A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? Chances are that any blockages are *inside* the radiators rather than in the pipes. Best way of dealing with that is to take all the rads off and take them outside and flush each one out with a hosepipe. Then flush the pipes (with the rads out) by opening one radiator valve at a time until the water runs clear. I am thinking that the lowest pipes are likely to be sludged. The rads had new TRVs fitted a couple of years ago so some draining down was done. why the heck don't all plumbers fit and exterior drain point???? If Microbore (8/10mm) then blockage in the pipes is quite possible especially if inhibitor wasnt added when the TRVs were installed. It is 15mm |
#9
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Flushing Central Heating
In article 6,
DerbyBorn writes: Roger Mills wrote in : On 05/03/2014 15:43, DerbyBorn wrote: A friend is having trouble getting his downstairs radiators hot. (Upstairs it balanced down to a minimum) A plmber has replaced the pump to no avail. Today he did a power flush but he connected to a radiator flow and return. I had assumed that flushing was normally done at the pump connectors. If there is a blockage then I believe the pipes under the floor are the problem. Sould he be trying to connect the power flush into one radiator - and the return into a different radiator? Chances are that any blockages are *inside* the radiators rather than in the pipes. Best way of dealing with that is to take all the rads off and take them outside and flush each one out with a hosepipe. Then flush the pipes (with the rads out) by opening one radiator valve at a time until the water runs clear. I am thinking that the lowest pipes are likely to be sludged. The rads had Sludge tends to collect in the slowest flow parts of the system where it drops out out the flow, which are the radiators. This is easy to diagnose - if the bottom of the radiator remains colder than the radiator's return pipe when the system has warmed up to steady state, then that's because the radiator is sludged up. OTOH, if the radiator return pipe is also cool, then that implies that the radiator has insufficient flow, possibly because the system hasn't been correctly balanced, or because of a blockage in the pipework or valves. Blockage in the stop valve (used to balance the system) is not uncommon because they are often only open a crack. Fully opening to clear this and then resetting back to the original position can sometimes solve that. new TRVs fitted a couple of years ago so some draining down was done. why the heck don't all plumbers fit and exterior drain point???? Some probably do, but this is the type of quality you are more likely to find in a good DIY system. I have two low points, and therefore 4 drain points (fitted in both flow and return), and they're all carried outside (even though the drain cocks are not all outside). If you take the radiators off to clean, bare in mind the sludge is a potent black dye if spilled on a carpet or similar. -- Andrew Gabriel [email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup] |
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