When I was having some work done on my kitchen I asked the plumber to
include re-piping a radiator (the pipes were under the plasterboard and
went to a manifold above the ceiling.)


When I got home from work, the job had been done and he told me the pipes
were completely clear but there had been some "gunge" in the manifold
connection which he had dug out with a bit of wire.

I was wishing I had got him to look at another couple of slow radiators
whilst he was about it - but I missed the opportunity of the ceiling being
down. Now I only have limited access to the manifold via a hatch in the
bedroom floor and certainly don't want to get a leak.


I have tried to use the mains pressure to flush out the blockages of these
sluggish feed pipes (the return is clear) by opening the radiator drain
with the return closed. I have also tried connecting a hose to reverse the
flow.

The next attempt will be to put some good cleaner in the system and try to
force it into the sluggish pipes by closing off the other radiators.

Ideally, I feel I would like to apply an alternating "blow / suck" to the
pipe to try and move the blockage.

Any suggestion on a good cleaner and/or a good way to shift the blockage.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn7c3z31pc..._5372.JPG?dl=0

On 23/03/2015 11:25, DerbyBorn wrote:
When I was having some work done on my kitchen I asked the plumber to
include re-piping a radiator (the pipes were under the plasterboard and
went to a manifold above the ceiling.)


When I got home from work, the job had been done and he told me the pipes
were completely clear but there had been some "gunge" in the manifold
connection which he had dug out with a bit of wire.

I was wishing I had got him to look at another couple of slow radiators
whilst he was about it - but I missed the opportunity of the ceiling being
down. Now I only have limited access to the manifold via a hatch in the
bedroom floor and certainly don't want to get a leak.


I have tried to use the mains pressure to flush out the blockages of these
sluggish feed pipes (the return is clear) by opening the radiator drain
with the return closed. I have also tried connecting a hose to reverse the
flow.

The next attempt will be to put some good cleaner in the system and try to
force it into the sluggish pipes by closing off the other radiators.

Ideally, I feel I would like to apply an alternating "blow / suck" to the
pipe to try and move the blockage.

Any suggestion on a good cleaner and/or a good way to shift the blockage.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn7c3z31pc..._5372.JPG?dl=0

I used some twisted cable which was a good fit (like bike brake/gear
cable) to clear a blockage in a neighbours microbore system.
Disconnected at radiator and discovered which pipe had no flow. Slowly
worked cable into blocked pipe (embeded in concrete floor) until I
reconed it was at mainfold. Withdrew cable with lots of old towels on
kitchen floor. Lots of gunge flow. Reconnected pipe. Still works ten
years later!

Jim

On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:25:50 GMT, DerbyBorn wrote:

Ideally, I feel I would like to apply an alternating "blow / suck" to the
pipe to try and move the blockage.

There's machines that do that, plus add compressed air to clean out puipes.
One's called Rothenberger ROPULS, er, he

http://www.rothenberger.co.uk/en/pro...lean-function/

Something to hire, of course. May be overkill, 'pends on the price...


Thomas Prufer

Thomas Prufer wrote in
:

http://www.rothenberger.co.uk/en/pro...lean-ropuls-fl
ushing-compressor-with-optionally-available-roclean-function/

Interesting - better than a general flush / clean.

In article 2,
DerbyBorn writes
Thomas Prufer wrote in
:

http://www.rothenberger.co.uk/en/pro...lean-ropuls-fl
ushing-compressor-with-optionally-available-roclean-function/

Interesting - better than a general flush / clean.

From experience there is a lot you can achieve by reversing the
flow/pressure on a blockage. The closed loop powerflush devices have a
number of benefits in that you can, reverse flow, keep the flush
chemicals in the loop and most will heat the flow for greater
effectiveness. If you want to go the whole hog then you can use an acid
flush to dissolve particulates but you need to run a neutralising flush
after and make sure it returns to neutral pH.

You can hire them at a reasonable rate but you might need to look around
a bit to find the more aggressive dissolving and matching neutralising
chemicals.

I copied the flow reversing valve setup from one so I could mains
pressure flush a clogged up system and when I found that mains pressure
was not enough I added a port to connect an electric tyre inflation
compressor to it. That got me enough flow to get mains water through it
and clear the worst of the black scale that had accumulated.

--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .