1st manual rad' flush

[paulga]

Hello all,

I'm doing my first 9 radiator system manual flush next week on a gravity system in a bungalow, any advice on best/quickest way of doing it ?, i have had the cleaner fluid in for a week now already and i'm not sure what is the best way to tackle it, ie: take all rads off first and flush pipe runs or leave all rads on and flush system or shut all rads off then open one at a time ?
I would of course like to buy a power flusher but i'm going to have save up!.

P.S Any advice on pricing for the job.

Thanks in advance for any feed back.

 

[danielp]

well best way would be to drain the sysyem and flush each rad out any either way i would say your asking for it

 

[secret squirrel]

Cant you hire a power flush machine?

 

[Winston]

Dont take the rads off and make life harder for your self. Either hire a machine or do as you have said flush and shut rad at a time. Take your time and be methodical.

 

[HTB]

Paulga,

If you are going to do it manually here's a couple of things worth bearing in mind.

Start at the top/highest point and work down. Remember as you "fiddle" with the system and disturb residue, it will sink to lowest point, if you "do" the downstairs rads first, when you start to "do" the upstairs you will be dropping sludge down into the lower ones you have just cleaned.

Clean out the header tank first, sometimes easier to disconnect it and bring it outside to give it a proper clean, but thats up to you, check the ball valve in the header tank, might be worth replacing it to put a few more pounds in the job, and its not bad practice to have that in good nick and with new fibre washer on inlet to tank.

Plenty of dust sheets needed, might even be worth having a bucket of warm water and carpet cleaner to hand just in case of accidents, be careful spillages don't go through dust sheets, they become porous when old.

Move "stuff" out of the way if you are going to take the rads out into the back garden or somewhere to flush them through with hose, client won't thank you for knocking her priceless Ming vase off window ledge or Grandad's picture off wall and smashing glass. Clear the route first so that when you are struggling along with a heavy rad its a bit less stressful.

CLOSE THE BLEED VALVES IF YOU ARE GOING TO CARRY A RAD OUT UPSIDE DOWN!!!

Do I need to explain that one??? (Guess why it comes to mind????)

Consider hooking hose from mains cold tap to one DOV and drain hose to another DOV thus flushing entire system out under cold mains pressure, remember it will take path of least resistance so you might have go around system and open bits here and close bits there to encourage flushing. Be careful not to overfill header tank whilst doing this, overflow might not cope it, so might be best cap outlet from header off somehow.

As said by others above , pressure/power flush is best, but if you are going to do it manually, consider the above tips, and its up to you if you decide to use any of them.

Remember, we all learn by our mistakes, but it's less painful, and more profitable, to learn by the mistakes of others.

Good luck.

 

[paulga]

Thanks HTB,
A nice thorough bit of advice, i like the idea of mains pressure flush and capping off the header feed pipe, i also have plastic backed dust sheets which can really help to keep the stress levels down in customers houses when they have WHITE carpets everywhere!!!.

 

[secret squirrel]

Paulga,

please let me know how you get on, I'd be terrified with a customer with white carpets...

 

[pauls]

1001 carpet cleaner squirt the mark let it soak in for a minute and then dab out with white tissue paper that stuff works a treat on white carpets.

as for flushing manually i have done it before

tied up the ball valve in f&e drained the system took rads off one at a time and flushed through.

i also connect a piece of copper pipe to the hose add a lever ball valve and also an old lock shield valve which i screw to the rad

 

[Rizme]

how would you do the same in a sealed system with around 18 rads in the house.

 

[paulga]

Paulga,

please let me know how you get on, I'd be terrified with a customer with white carpets...

Job went fine, i didn't take off any rads that were on the white carpets only the ones on wooden flooring, left with the system working fine, horray !!!.

 

[moony]

we've made a board for this job, mains in, then valves and hoses that feed into flow and reurn - and to waste - thisa way all water is removed and you can flush one way then another. pretty simple set up its mains pressure and it gets it pretty clean flushing both ways.

 

[pauls]

how would you do the same in a sealed system with around 18 rads in the house.

18 rads.................powerflush....... unless you want to take off a rad at a time and flush through

 

[Plucky]

why would anyone manual flush when you can hire a machine for £60

 

[HTB]

q plumb like your board idea, might knock one up for own use.

Paulga, may I ask what you charged, and was client happy with rate??

 

[Flanners]

Look how long HTB's post is........HIRE A MACHINE.

Connect to pump, cap off cold feed and vent, fill with water, turn on for an hour, add chemicals, run until clean.

Job done

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