Any plumbers/central heating engineers on TP?

frank

frank

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,498
Edit My Images
Yes
a question on adding inhibitor to a new radiator in living room. Once it has been added does it get left in permanently or should it get drained of after a xx amount of time ?

Thank.
 
Just leave it, it mixes with the fluids (99% water) in the system. There's no way of getting it out anyway.
 
You just add it to the system, it finds it's way to the radiator.
when I had a new boiler last year I also had Magnetic filter added. The water went from dirty black to clear in a day. At the end of the week it was cleaned out and a mass of black iron removed . At the recent annual servive there was very little more collected and the water was crystal clear.
 
Thanks guys, Terry how much room do these magnetic filter take up, my combi is in a cupboard above the kitchen worktop so space is limited.
 
Been looking at them on youtube, yes I'm tempted too. Depending on the space it takes up or maybe try and build a new box around the pipes. I wonder if it would be as efficient as a powerflush, maybe slower method but cheaper.
 
frank said:
Been looking at them on youtube, yes I'm tempted too. Depending on the space it takes up or maybe try and build a new box around the pipes. I wonder if it would be as efficient as a powerflush, maybe slower method but cheaper.
Click to expand...

It depends how much you reckon the pipe joints can take. Powerflush can blow joints, at least Heating Engineers I've talked to have mentioned it happening.
The magnetic approach is non-impact and long term. Powerflush is high (ish) impact and short term.
 
Powerflushing shouldn't blow any joints, but it may expose any existing weaknesses in pipes or joints. Powerflushing is only really necessary if you've got cold spots on any of your radiators - if they're all hot across their entire surface then there should be no need for a Powerflush. A magnetic filter is worthwhile and a number of them now include a gauze filter to catch the non-magnetic debris.
 
Magnetic approach might be better for me then, the copper pipes on the valves at radiators are 8mm which were in the house when we moved in not the usual half inch etc like newer systems but larger diameter pipe at the combi which is almost ten years old..
 
chphotos said:
Powerflushing shouldn't blow any joints, but it may expose any existing weaknesses in pipes or joints. Powerflushing is only really necessary if you've got cold spots on any of your radiators - if they're all hot across their entire surface then there should be no need for a Powerflush. A magnetic filter is worthwhile and a number of them now include a gauze filter to catch the non-magnetic debris.
Click to expand...

Powerflush shouldn't blow any joints :)

I did a complete bathroom refit before Christmas last year and I had to replace three joints under the floor when I refilled the system - one had failed completely.

I checked all joints and fittings before stiffening and tiling the floor. Once the floor was down there was no access to this section of the house so it had to be sound.
 
In all the years that I've been involved in Powerflushing, I've never seen a joint 'blow'. I've had a plastic heating pipe burst, as there was a blockage in the pipe, and leaks on compression joints that were never tightened correctly from original installation, but no burst joints.
 
frank said:
Magnetic approach might be better for me then, the copper pipes on the valves at radiators are 8mm which were in the house when we moved in not the usual half inch etc like newer systems but larger diameter pipe at the combi which is almost ten years old..
Click to expand...

If you have 8mm pipe going to your radiators, then Powerflushing is not advised and can actually cause problems. A magnetic type filter will be your best option.
 
I would recommend the Fernox TF1 compact Very easy to fit and only takes up about 190mm cut a section out preferably on the return pipework just under the boier and fit with the supplied valves. Best really to put some system cleaner in it and run it for a few days, then drain down using the drain off connection (fits straight onto a washing machine hose) and then add inhibitor.
 
Rather than power flushing the whole system, I would be tempted to drop any cold spotting rads out and either replacing them with new or flushing them off the system.
 
I used Sentinel system cleaner recently, the difference it made was incredible. The rads get hotter much more quickly and there's no cold spots anywhere. The system is very old, apart from the boiler which was changed out about 10 years ago and a couple of new rads. I couldn't believe the amount of crud that came out when I drained the system after using the Sentinel. I'd flushed it with Screwfix's own No Nonsense cleaner before and it barely made any difference.

Tempted to fit a magnetic filter too now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top