powerflushing, radiators may still be black!

[mike_s]

The reason people remove rads is because they have not flushed them correctly

I find this hard to believe, What more can I do that treat the system for a week before then flush all the pipes and each radiator individually? With every power flush I've done we've always got the most black out of the kitchen radiator we took off to connect the machine to and flushed manually outside.

The next black system you go to why don't you try taking a downstairs radiator off after the power flush and see if it's as crystal clear as the water coming out of the dump hose, I think it probably will not be.

 

[FD Powerflow]

I ractically powerflush for a living and Ill be honest I swear by my in line filter to the point I have two on my return hose. Chemicals like DS40/F5 and X800 get the sludge moving but you need a decent flow rate and or filter to stop the sludge from resettling and just sitting in the bottom of the rad.

I know what you mean about still finding sludge in the system and as a result of seeing it for myself I invested in the filters for my machine, but still insist on fitting a TF1 to the system at the end.

The way I see it especially if your swapping open vented/back boiler to combi your putting 2 bar of pressure and a higher temperature flow onto the system and in any chemical reaction heat an pressure increase the way it works so the TF1 is my belt and braces to stop any issues once im gone.

 

[Plucky]

If you remove a rad and connect into system that way you have to be a bit clever about what your machikne is going to do. Sometimes it will bypass certain parts of the system I.E. rather than going around a particular rad it may just whizz round the boiler (quite common on combis) So you think you are flushing a rad and really your not. You have to think logically.

I always try and get into the primary flow somehow, normally on the pump valves. Get a better flush and you can keep the boiler on easier.


FD Powerflow where do you get these inline fliters from?

 

[tamz]

I moved into my present house 3 years ago. 1st thing i did was rip the boiler out and repipe most of the pipes under the floor (it had been a solid fuel at one time converted to gas and the pipes took a lonnnngggg road for a shortcut). Over the past couple of years and a few more changes, the only thing original left on the system is 2 attic rads and about 30ft of 1/2" pipe.
At the time i first changed things i powerflushed it and have had the apprentice do it another 3 or 4 times when i was quiet and when he was doing it he was at it for a full 8 hrs. Every time there is still some muck comes out. Done it with X800 and once with FX2.

Powerflushing will never completely clean a system.

 

[mike_s]

Interesting replies cheers guys. Can't wait to try this X800 and will try connecting to the pump instead when practical, as well as taking off radiators more often as surely the best way, tilting them and filling them up with a hose pipe then releasing when full. We always make sure the radiators are full when powerflushing but I'm more sure of the job when flushing it manually outside.

 

[gasmarc]

when i got my powerflushing machine years ago there was no way of discharging the dirt without having to introduce more chemicals, I have since come to the conclusion that the only way to avoid this is to have the huge magnets that cost around £300 ouch this way everytime dirt comes back to the machine it is caught also it helps to have the boiler running at full belt if possible

 

[moogwai]

Like FDPOWERFLOW said....i practically powerflush for a living and find that i can take massive amounts of sludge out of a system using a combination of my powerflush machine, i run 2 in-line filters(just to make sure), vibraclean,infared thermometer and tds + ph meters.
When flushing a combination system i always cut into the flow and return to isolate boiler from the system and heat the water with what is in effect a immersion heater. Using all this i beleive you get 90% of the magnatite out the system and will always advise customers to have a magnaclean/tf1 fitted as a safe guard to their system.
I however will not entertain powerflushing a system with 8mm piping on as you will not get the velocity of water rushing through the rad to make the flush effective....i always tell my customers they'd be better off upgrading the pipework to get the system running more effectively. 10mm pipe is just about ok as long as there is no kinks in the pipework.
I have spent 45mins on cleaning just one rad at times and had to clean my filters out after doing this!!
everybody has their own preferred methods and there is no right answer.