Trouble draining Heating system

[Stants]

Hi all I have an old Vented system header tank etc...... ( im very soon replacing the whole lot ) I need to move the header tank so tried to drain down the system and the Tanks not emptying put hose on downstairs Rad to drain, and water came out but I'm pretty sure all I've done is empty that rad ....... The heating side of the system,s not been used for a while because the boiler kept cutting out ( been using imersion for hot water )

Question 1 im wondering if the 3 port valve is stuck on hot water only would this be the problem if so can you move them manually ( im thinking it was the valve that was making the boiler cut out in the first place

Question 2 if I drain the tank by hand into a bucket would there be an issue with Legionnaires disease ? as the waters been sitting there quite a while done a bit of research says water between 20 and 60 degrees

ive drained the system many times in the past ( added cleaner and inhibitor ) without a problem

cheers

 

[SimonG]

Cold feed blocked, sounds like the system is full of sludge.

 

[Aquarius]

If you’re only draining heating system, then you needn’t worry about legionnaires disease, as this refers to stored hot water in your cylinder. Have you turned off the water to the tank? If you want to empty the system then you drain from lowest point possible, and then start to open upstairs vents on rads and draw air into the system. Wait until water has stopped running, then drain all rads on ground floor (this has to be done individually. Don’t forget to open the vents on these as well. Why doesn’t the boiler cut out? Is this an overheat situation?

 

[Stants]

If you’re only draining heating system, then you needn’t worry about legionnaires disease, as this refers to stored hot water in your cylinder. Have you turned off the water to the tank? If you want to empty the system then you drain from lowest point possible, and then start to open upstairs vents on rads and draw air into the system. Wait until water has stopped running, then drain all rads on ground floor (this has to be done individually. Don’t forget to open the vents on these as well. Why doesn’t the boiler cut out? Is this an overheat situation?

Hi I only wanted to drain the water out of the header tank as its in the way of a Trimmer I need to put in ( Loft conversion ) so if i scoop the water out of the tank it should be ok for legionella

in regards to boiler it kept cutting out so I've stopped using it a while ago as its being replaced I just thought the valve might have been the problem as I traced the pipework down from the tank and pretty much goes straight into the valve
[automerge]1597604861[/automerge]

Cold feed blocked, sounds like the system is full of sludge.

If it is sludge if I disconnect the header Tank ( once its emptied by hand ) could I use the feed for the tank ( theres is a dedicated stopcock ) and connect it to the out let of the tank ( short bit of temporary pipework ) and use that to flush it through ?

 

[Aquarius]

If it is sludge if I disconnect the header Tank ( once its emptied by hand ) could I use the feed for the tank ( theres is a dedicated stopcock ) and connect it to the out let of the tank ( short bit of temporary pipework ) and use that to flush it through ?

Depends on blockage, if solid, then no, you will get wet from a backpressure. Should be ok for legionnaires if it is the header (feed and expansion) tank for the heating. It will be the same for the cold water storage tank for your hot water.

 

[Stants]

Depends on blockage, if solid, then no, you will get wet from a backpressure. Should be ok for legionnaires if it is the header (feed and expansion) tank for the heating. It will be the same for the cold water storage tank for your hot water.

Yes it’s the feed and expansion tank
If is full of sludge what are the options on clearing it you can’t flush it with the mains ?

 

[Aquarius]

The best way is to cut it out and replace - it might only be blocked so far down.

 

[Stants]

Cold feed blocked, sounds like the system is full of sludge.

Hi again I disconnected the Header feeder Tank ,Cleaned out about an inch of sludge at the bottom I managed to push a small metal rod I had down the cold feed didn't really feel any resistance Topped up the pipe again till water was flush with the top and still wasn't draining so took the plunge ( excuse the pun ) and connected the Cold from the mains directly into the cold feed and turned it on just a little ....nothing happened so a little bit more and PFFFFFTT I heard it go no splashback lol then reconnected the tank filled it and it seems ok now as I drained a little, and then bled the rad downstairs and the Tank emptied ( left the mains off so i could see it went down ) so thanks very much for all your help and all the others its a great site Cheers Adam

 

[SJB060685]

Hi again I disconnected the Header feeder Tank ,Cleaned out about an inch of sludge at the bottom I managed to push a small metal rod I had down the cold feed didn't really feel any resistance Topped up the pipe again till water was flush with the top and still wasn't draining so took the plunge ( excuse the pun ) and connected the Cold from the mains directly into the cold feed and turned it on just a little ..nothing happened so a little bit more and PFFFFFTT I heard it go no splashback lol then reconnected the tank filled it and it seems ok now as I drained a little, and then bled the rad downstairs and the Tank emptied ( left the mains off so i could see it went down ) so thanks very much for all your help and all the others its a great site Cheers Adam

If you've managed to dislodge some sludge to rectify your problem I would consider flushing the system.

 

[Stants]

If you've managed to dislodge some sludge to rectify your problem I would consider flushing the system.

Hi I did a little when I used the cold feed to dislodge the blockage just finished fitting the trimmer and as a temporary measure I'm going to reconnect the Header feed tank but before I do that was going to use the mains feed like I did before to flush the system I was going to flush it until the water was clear do you think that would be enough ? then add some inhibitor to protect the system

 

[SJB060685]

Hi I did a little when I used the cold feed to dislodge the blockage just finished fitting the trimmer and as a temporary measure I'm going to reconnect the Header feed tank but before I do that was going to use the mains feed like I did before to flush the system I was going to flush it until the water was clear do you think that would be enough ? then add some inhibitor to protect the system

That depends on the extent of any sludge in the system. You might get away with adding some sludge remover into the header tank and let it circulate for a week or two and then drain down and add some inhibitor. On the other hand if the sludge buildup was excessive then you would probably benefit from a proper system power flush.
Its hard to say from here. If the system water is not clear what you could do is if you have a relatively strong magnet try placing it on the copper pipes around the system. Copper can't be magnetized but if there is large sludge buildup then the magnet will stick to the sludge through the copper pipe. That will give you an idea of what the inside of the system is like.