power flush cost?....................................

[dwalsh1]

British gas done their anal service on the boiler this morning and the guy said I need a power flush which I'd guessed anyway. Quoted me £800. Obviously the British gas have astronomical overheads so how much would it be roughly from Joe Bloggs the plumber?

 

[Scott_D]

How many rads?
What part of the world
What type of heating system

 

[Best]

A lot less. About half that

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Any problems ?

 

[townfanjon]

Joe charges loads more than that

 

[hammers4spanner]

£799.00

 

[Old Account]

What is the reason they told you to flush the system? Is there any report why you need that done. What pipework and how many rads

 

[dwalsh1]

8 rads (2 being towel rails). The boiler is a combi. 2 living room rads are cold on the bottom. The guy spoke of the heat exchanger which makes a noise may need a descale. Harrow based.

 

[quality]

Leave your heating on for a longer time and you will probably find they all get warm

 

[Ric2013]

I still know an old guy who is convinced powerflushing is the lazy way of doing it and that the way they did it in the old days (take the radiators off and hose them through outside) is a superior method. I can't work out how I can prove him wrong, and it would probably cure your radiator problem.

That said, if you have serious quantities of sludge in the system, it will eventually affect the boiler longevity and performance, and sounds like he may be onto something with his idea of descaling, in my opinion.

 

[quality]

2 year old system ?

 

[firemant]

I still know an old guy who is convinced powerflushing is the lazy way of doing it and that the way they did it in the old days (take the radiators off and hose them through outside) is a superior method.

lots of old guys in any field think the new ways are bad or lazy,

PF'ing, dne properly, is way superior to removing rads.

Think about it. Clean all the ras. Then pump crap in the pipes back into the rads. pretty smart, eh?

In the old days, boilers (and rads to an extent) had massively bigger water ways, it does not take much to restrict flow through a boiler,and crap to inhibit heat exchanging.

Oh, and I am well onto retiring, BTW

 

[king of pipes]

Seems your system could do with a good clean £800 is a bit much you should be looking around £500 with a mag filter fitted in my opinion others may disaagree. Cheers kop

 

[Last Plumber]

I would agree with KOP on the price, £500 sounds about right in my part of the Country.
I would get a second opinion first though. Rads being cool at the bottom can of course be a sign of a build up of sludge but it is not always the case.
Power-flushing can sometimes do more harm than good in my opinion.

 

[Best]

I still know an old guy who is convinced powerflushing is the lazy way of doing it and that the way they did it in the old days (take the radiators off and hose them through outside) is a superior method. I can't work out how I can prove him wrong, and it would probably cure your radiator problem.

That said, if you have serious quantities of sludge in the system, it will eventually affect the boiler longevity and performance, and sounds like he may be onto something with his idea of descaling, in my opinion.

The old guy sounds like me.
I think he is correct. If anyone can use a powerflush and chemicals to clean rads thoroughly, then respect to them.
I prefer to remove each one first and hose them out. Flushing a system that is full of water tends to not disturb the dirt in bottom of rads. (You wouldn’t try power hosing the bottom of a bucket if it was full of water)
Flushing an empty system still has the problem of water build up in each rad.
You can flush the pipes by doing each rad.
I think nobody could argue that removing 90% of the crud in a system first before adding chemicals would make the chemical more effective.
I see a lot of systems that have been powerflushed and the water appears clean. But there is still undisturbed crud in the bottom of the rads.

 

[Last Plumber]

The old guy sounds like me.
I think he is correct. If anyone can use a powerflush and chemicals to clean rads thoroughly, then respect to them.
I prefer to remove each one first and hose them out. Flushing a system that is full of water tends to not disturb the dirt in bottom of rads. (You wouldn’t try power hosing the bottom of a bucket if it was full of water)
Flushing an empty system still has the problem of water build up in each rad.
You can flush the pipes by doing each rad.
I think nobody could argue that removing 90% of the crud in a system first before adding chemicals would make the chemical more effective.
I see a lot of systems that have been powerflushed and the water appears clean. But there is still undisturbed crud in the bottom of the rads.

I agree!!
If you cleaned the rads individually as you say and then refill system dose with a chemical cleaner like F3, get it hot and drop it out, cut the pipes below floor (or at the lowest level),to completely empty it, I don't think you'd manage to clean it any better in all honesty.

 

[Chalked]

British gas done their anal service on the boiler this morning and the guy said I need a power flush which I'd guessed anyway. Quoted me £800. Obviously the British gas have astronomical overheads so how much would it be roughly from Joe Bloggs the plumber?

Bg doing anal servicing now !

 

[Old Account]

The old guy sounds like me.
I think he is correct. If anyone can use a powerflush and chemicals to clean rads thoroughly, then respect to them.
I prefer to remove each one first and hose them out. Flushing a system that is full of water tends to not disturb the dirt in bottom of rads. (You wouldn’t try power hosing the bottom of a bucket if it was full of water)
Flushing an empty system still has the problem of water build up in each rad.
You can flush the pipes by doing each rad.
I think nobody could argue that removing 90% of the crud in a system first before adding chemicals would make the chemical more effective.
I see a lot of systems that have been powerflushed and the water appears clean. But there is still undisturbed crud in the bottom of the rads.

To get rid of the sludge or grid at the bottom you will need to use a vibrating tool for a drill machine. Never had any issues while doing this. I always achieved a good clean system. However, I also agree with hosing the individual radiators seperatly. Due due to the magnets it will magnetise all iron parts and get them out of the system.

 

[Ric2013]

What I will say is his argument is that each radiator has about half an inch of capacity BELOW the bottom of each pipe bore feeding the radiator and he claims that, even with a vibration tool, this will remain.

In fairness to him, I thoroughly powerflushed a large system a few years ago and it was treated immediately with Sentinel by an RGI in my presence. One year later, I had to do the job again for a new boiler, and the flushing magnet was almost as dirty as the previous year (though not quite as bad). It is my belief that the magnetite must have remained in the system from the previous flushing.

That said, I will accept that powerflushing probably dislodges dirt that would otherwise be mixed together with limescale and unable to be moved around, and it probably does descale and clean pipe bores. What I cannot accept though, is that it is the cure to all ailments.

 

[steadyon]

Combi with 8 rads. If straightforward 22 mm spine plus short 15 mm runs to rads, then around £350 plus chemicals - say £400 to £450. Add a Magnaclean Pro 2 filter supplied and installed - plus £150.
All subject to survey.

Flush with Kamco chemicals and neutraliser, water analysis and certificate provided at end.

 

[AWheating]

Around 350 upwards. 100-150 for filter Best to thermal image the rads that are claimed to be struggling.

Ask for acid based cleaners to be used.

 

[Harvest Fields]

When you powerflush a system the rads aren’t supposed to be full to begin with mate

 

[Best]

When you powerflush a system the rads aren’t supposed to be full to begin with mate

My thinking also was that once you begin powerflushing the water builds up in the bottom of the rad, whether you start with a drained or nearly drained system.
I think that is a disadvantage compared with removing a rad and flushing it several times from empty, plus turning it upside down, filling some water into it and turning it over a few times to clean the vertical channels of rad and to have the water fall hard down on the base.
I flushed 3 rads on a job a few weeks ago that are well over 30 years old using a garden hose. Looking inside through the tappings of the single rad with a torch was interesting to see how long it took to make the base spotless.
Removing rads to flush them is not what I like to do, but it does seem to do a first good clean.
I think the Mag filters inspection can be misleading as a system water will only have dirt in the water later if it is disturbed - like if more powerflushing or cleaning chemicals used etc.

 

[firemant]

The old guy sounds like me.
I think he is correct. If anyone can use a powerflush and chemicals to clean rads thoroughly, then respect to them.
I prefer to remove each one first and hose them out. Flushing a system that is full of water tends to not disturb the dirt in bottom of rads. (You wouldn’t try power hosing the bottom of a bucket if it was full of water)
Flushing an empty system still has the problem of water build up in each rad.
You can flush the pipes by doing each rad.
I think nobody could argue that removing 90% of the crud in a system first before adding chemicals would make the chemical more effective.
I see a lot of systems that have been powerflushed and the water appears clean. But there is still undisturbed crud in the bottom of the rads.

PF'ing DOES work well.I have got microbore systems running in the past - and folk say you cannot PF them.

The problem is not the PF'ing - it is the appalling standard of workmanship prevalent in this industry.

It cracks me up when I see a boiler change done in a morning. With a PF. Impossible, unless the system was pretty clean. TBF, things have changed a tad since I did them regularly, but I allowed 6 hours for a PF on a standard 3 bed house.