Morning all,
I've recently cleaned my F&E, microbore central heating system using Sentinel X400 and this led to the cold rads heating up again, so a success in that respect*. Now, after a week of the X400 circulating, today I cleaned the F&E tank again (much cleaner water), drained down the system, refilled it and drained it again to flush it all out. The water that came out was pretty clear.
However, when I removed the existing pump to replace it, gunk is still coming out of the pipes, so now i'm unsure about whether or not to replace the pump as I don't want to clog up the new one.
I'm reluctant to take off every rad on this microbore system in case I end up with a load of leaks when I put them back, especially since all the rads are now heating up nicely. When I flushed out the X400, the water was quite clear, with a orange tint in it, though the filter had picked up quite a bit of sludge. Having read some other stories about using cleaner in the hell that is microbore, i'm worried that any more cleaning chemical could dislodge sludge and cause a blockage again.
What do you think about the idea of fitting the new pump and running the heating for a few hours every day and then cleaning the sludge from the filter every day to try to gradually clean the system? Or is this just a stupid idea that will result in a failed pump?
Any advice gratefully appreciated.
*I just followed the instructions on the Sentinel website, keeping the X400 in for a week, running it for 3 hours initially and then putting on the heating for a couple of hours each week:
"Sentinel X400 should be circulated, preferably at normal operating temperature, with all valves open and the pump turned to maximum flow for a minimum period of 3 hours. Where systems are badly fouled, a longer period of circulation (e.g., up to 4 weeks) is recommended, but the product will not clear a completely blocked pipe."
I've recently cleaned my F&E, microbore central heating system using Sentinel X400 and this led to the cold rads heating up again, so a success in that respect*. Now, after a week of the X400 circulating, today I cleaned the F&E tank again (much cleaner water), drained down the system, refilled it and drained it again to flush it all out. The water that came out was pretty clear.
However, when I removed the existing pump to replace it, gunk is still coming out of the pipes, so now i'm unsure about whether or not to replace the pump as I don't want to clog up the new one.
I'm reluctant to take off every rad on this microbore system in case I end up with a load of leaks when I put them back, especially since all the rads are now heating up nicely. When I flushed out the X400, the water was quite clear, with a orange tint in it, though the filter had picked up quite a bit of sludge. Having read some other stories about using cleaner in the hell that is microbore, i'm worried that any more cleaning chemical could dislodge sludge and cause a blockage again.
What do you think about the idea of fitting the new pump and running the heating for a few hours every day and then cleaning the sludge from the filter every day to try to gradually clean the system? Or is this just a stupid idea that will result in a failed pump?
Any advice gratefully appreciated.
*I just followed the instructions on the Sentinel website, keeping the X400 in for a week, running it for 3 hours initially and then putting on the heating for a couple of hours each week:
"Sentinel X400 should be circulated, preferably at normal operating temperature, with all valves open and the pump turned to maximum flow for a minimum period of 3 hours. Where systems are badly fouled, a longer period of circulation (e.g., up to 4 weeks) is recommended, but the product will not clear a completely blocked pipe."
