Powerflush machine purchase

[Knappers]

I normally hire a machine however I'm getting to the stage where I should look at getting my own but f#@k me they're expensive!
I thought 'well I'm a plumber and a half decent engineer why not make my own...?'
(Probably because it's too much bother)
It seems a vertical centrifugal pump with a long reach plastic impeller is hard to find, and submersible pumps aren't rated for high temps but I run a manaclense 'filter' so I recon I'd get away with a self priming jet pump like a 90/50? A 50l PE water tank, few tank connectors, maybe a filter 'sock' on return and If I can find a 1"-4 port butterfly valve then I recon with a days work I could have a pretty sweet setup and save £300 even after labour?

Don't get me wrong I see the value in getting off the shelf and if I didn't enjoy designing and making things then I wouldn't entertain the idea.

Has anyone got a better idea or any advice?
I'd love to include some kind of flow monitoring and perhaps an immersion heater but probably in version 2 (assuming there's ever a version 1)

👍

 

[Gasmk1]

Lots of people sell them off search on ebay

 

[PETE 123]

Get a norstrom i did never regreted it.

 

[Ric2013]

I've used a Kamco when I worked with someone and have hired one (again a Kamco) for myself. Hired tools often need a bit of fettling which wastes time, and I wasn't that impressed anyway.

I wonder how much we could abuse a jet pump and get away with it? If the pumps are rated for continuous operation and abused, even if they might fail after a few weeks constant use, by then you've done 40 flushes and don't mind changing the pump.

It's been a while, but I remember a few frustrations from my last flush:


1. Plastic threads on hoses for a start and flow could be better.

2. Could also improve on the way the pump works when you are rapidly reversing flow and return with a Magnacleanse: I don't like the fact that when you are flushing with the filter on the pumped flow, the pump bucket fills with dirty water and then, when you reverse the flow, this dirty water is then pumped back into the system.

3. There is also an issue that (as slightly mentioned above in point 2) that you end up filling and emptying the bucket and system water and gradually diluting the dirt instead of doing a fresh water flush which should be the ultimate intention and would save much time. If the bucket empties you must then either switch back to recirculation and dirty your clean flush water, or stop the pump entirely and risk the system debris settling while you wait to fill and neither is ideal. It might be enough to have a decent fill valve that fills at a decent rate and a way of throttling down the pump so you could maintain some level of flow, or a large reservoir, separate from your recirculated water that would be used solely for flushing to dump.

Does Norstrom have these problems or only Kamco?

 

[Knappers]

Similar to you I usually struggle to get it setup, deal with leaks etc and never know what kit your gona actually get.
If I setup with filters before flow reversal then I could have it always running through them.
Pipework should handle 4-5 bar and may help to blow out some muck (better than 2bar).
Would love some flow gauges so I can asses the flow through each rad.

 

[Ric2013]

I know I spent ages getting PTFE off the plastic threads so I could then actually get the hoses on.

Flow gauges are a good idea. And/or you could have a pressure gauge on the flow (and return?) to allow you to see the pressure drop across a circuit. I can imagine this machine ending up quite steampunky with black and white Smiths gauges and chrome bezels lol. Would give you an idea regarding blockages, and, yes, filter before flow reversal sounds a way forward.

2 bar: is that all they normally do? It's a bit pathetic when you consider copper tubing will take 10 bar when new and that flushing is sometimes used to clear bloakages. I suspect the flow on most machines is reasonable for pipework but not so great for cleaning emitters. I note Kamco recommends having the radiator half full of air to promote flow across the bottom, but once you have bled the air out to allow the acid (or non-acid) to circulate (or if the radiator is already full of water), it's not really practical to re-introduce the air, so a choice to be able to increase flow sounds a good shout.