1st PowerFlush

[Nige F]

Ive not had any trainning on powerflushing. Fair enough


I am a heating engineer by the way, lol, but Im employed for breakdown and repair mostly, dont do any installation or upgrading under normal circumstances.
Then get down the gym and shape up


Thanks again guys
John

bleedin corgi`s

 

[John2512_00]

guys youve all been great, im alot more confident about this now.

Only things are:

The site doesnt give instruction to the order I actually do the work, ie, do you hook the machine up and flush all rads at the same + spread all the chemicals then time for a while then narrow down to individual rads or what?

and ive only got salamander fast cleanse in the van, is this ok to add while flushing or is there something better the local plumbcentre will stock?

 

[Timmyturtle]

Fit the machine as in the instructions
Turn it on with all rads fully open
Flush for 10 mins with water only,this way if something is about to go it wont waste costly chemicals,or melt the carpet
Put the chemical in ,run for 10 mins to let it get to all the rads
Shut all the rads off except one
Flush this radiator for at least 10 minutes,altering the flow direction occasionally ,then open another and shut the first one
Keep doing this until they have all been done
Flush out to drain from each radiator individually,this makes it easier to see when each run is clear as the pipe runs clearer coming to the machine

If possible isolate the primary circut to the cylinder for most of the flushing or it will waste valuable flow from the heating circuit.Primary and coil can be flushed same as a rad

If you can,run the boiler on very low .(with central heating pump saftely disconnected)
This also helps the chemicals work
This way you can feel if all of the radiator has cleared or not
If you get cold areas in the rad then bang it with a soft mallet or your hand until it becomes hot(this helps dislodge stuck on stuff)

A magnaclean unit makes ,in my opinion,a big difference

We have done 100 or so flushes using genuine Kamco chemicals and machine and only a couple were probably not worth doing

Most of the flushes have made a huge difference to the systems

Dont rush it,if it takes less than most of the day you are not doing it properly (average house)

I trained at Kamco all be it after we had done 30+ flushes

Good luck

 

[stardanny]

What wrong with removing rads and flushing it out with hosepipe and refit it?

 

[Timmyturtle]

Because most of the problems lie in the pipework ,not the radiators

 

[wilhelm]

well. I thought the turtles info was fekkin good.

Look you both live in Buckinghampshire....or whatever.

so I see Milton Keynes here..........so no why not meet up for a fightttttttttttttt

 

[stardanny]

Timmy: That true. I have done powerflush before, I think it getting better. Sometime some rads is hard to flush out. I done one job powerflush 28 radiators in two days in a small office, after flushing, water is thick, heavy blackist water you ever seen. Heating sizzle hot.

 

[Timmyturtle]

The magnetic magnaclean unit from Kamco is the biz

Collects all the metal sludge so you can show the customer what has come out

So far most collected on a 15 rad house....1 stone in weight of metallic sludge

Obviously lots more non metallic crud gets washed down the drain

No I dont have any connection to Kamco before you ask

 

[Agile]

The Kamco magnetic filter is very good, although expensive! But its not a Magnaclean ® !!!

If you are doing it free then OK but if you are charging then I would not advise you do do it without any training. Kanco's is good!

Powerflushing is mainly a show for the customer, you can get the same effect with mains water flushing if you know what you are doing.

Power flushing does not involve reading newspapers, its very hard physical work!!! Thats if you are doing it properly.

Normally X800 is the best chemical. But if you dont even know what chemicals to use then how can you expect to do a good job?

Tony

 

[John2512_00]

thanks again for all the advice guys

Ive got a spare magnaclean 22mm filter never used lying about, i know its not a proper one for a powerflushing unit, but do you think it would be worth hookeing it up inline with the machine to catch more sludge?

 

[Gasguru]

Doubt if it will catch much since the velocity of the water will be very high through it.

Powerflushing magnetic filters have about 600mm magnet lenght (about 4 x a Magnaclean ), larger diameter body so the water travels slowly past them.

Not sure if its been mentioned but be very carefull when you have the boiler firing not to close both the isolating valves on the powerflusher since you will have the feed and vent capped. Amazingly, no powerflush manufacturers see fit to stick a safety valve on their units for this possible scenario.

I've played safe and used Hyperflush (with heat) and had good results clearing blockages on elbows etc.

 

[Agile]

thanks again for all the advice guys

Ive got a spare magnaclean 22mm filter never used lying about, i know its not a proper one for a powerflushing unit, but do you think it would be worth hookeing it up inline with the machine to catch more sludge?

I would say use it as it cannot do any harm.

However if you are doing the job properly then you will mains flush each radiator to drain first anyway to get most of the dirt out.

The pump and chemical is only used when the system water looks pretty clean anyway.

The magnetic filter will only be in the return in one direction unless you have built up a very comprehensive valve set. I hope you know that you flush several times in each direction!

Tony