Back boiler.rad problems

[tommyscouse]

Excuse my lack of knowledge

I had a pin hole in my kitchen rad ( size of rad 1400x400 ) so i replaced it last weekend. the water that came out was thick brown.

Any way after fitting the new rad and turning heating back on, after a good bleed it was hot.

Yesterday after having heating on for 5 hours all my rads in the house 5 off all went cold round the bottoms and middle,

I took my bathroom rad of as its the smallest and the water that came out was pitch black, after a good flush out i re-installed in and found it got slightly warm and that is it. None of my rads are getting no where near as warm as id like.

I have a back boiler. that is running ok, i can here the pump working in the cupoard, i have been in the loft and the small tank is not even half full but the water is brown.

Any ideas please as i have a 2 year old in the house and a newborn due to arrive anytime.

i have tried the old turn all the rads of exept one and still no joy.

Any help much appreciated,

Regards

Dan

 

[studips]

the manual method of flushing is to drain off all water, shut trv/lockshields, remove rads jamming a thumb over both tails, whilst carrying them out to the garden inverted (this saves your carpet), you then set them down and fill with a hose pipe jammed on the tail and tap with a rubber mallet, water flows out of the other end and carries a load of crud with it.

it's a two man job really.

or you pay someone to powerflush it and accept that if one rad had a pin hole, the powerflush might expose other weaknesses that the flusher guy is not responsible for.

and don't forget the inhibitor once you have checked everything goes back and there are no leaks!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

You seem to have more knowlege than some! Sounds like your problem is magnetite sludge in the system, this forms as a result of a chemical reaction between the different metals used in a heating system. Corrosion inhibitor (e.g. Fernox or Sentinel) can be added to prevent this, however a bit late for you at present!

As suggested, a start would be to turn off the rads individually and remove outside to flush through with a hosepipe. Once the water runs clear, replace rad and move on to another. When finished, (assuming you have 2 tanks in the loft), a bottle of Sentinel X400 added (to the smaller tank) when refilling could help to loosen up more muck within the pipework. Give this a few weeks to work, see what effect it has. If your happy drain system again, refill adding X100.
http://www.sentinel-solutions.net/product/listing/central-heating/liquids/

 

[tommyscouse]

while im flushing the rads will it be advisable to keep a hose on the flush out pipe and keep the water running thru the sytem to clean the pipes out,

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Worth trying, although the water will take the easiest path from the inlet to the outlet. If you have multiple drain off's then put the hose on all of them. Any low spots where sludge can accumulate will be the problem. Chemical flush isnt guaranteed to sort it, but worth a go.

If you're still not happy then a powerflush may be needed, but be aware, powerflushing will find any weak spots in the rads.

 

[bengasman]

Your installation clearly suffers from long term neglect. The only sensible thing to do when you have a young child and a new one on the way, is to get a pro in to sort the whole lot out properly, and keep it up from there.

 

[tommyscouse]

So a power flush would cure the problem????

 

[bengasman]

So a power flush would cure the problem????

Not quite. A powerflush couldsolve the problem, then again, it may not. It would, IF it was done correctly, and IF the sludge build up was the only problem.

 

[tommyscouse]

thank you everybody for your help!

Cant get anybody to do a powerflush while net week.
So im going to manually flush at the weekend, all rads off and empty system, even going to scrape the sludge out of my tank in the loft.

One more bit of advice needed

My room control thermostat is set on 30 deg and yet the rads ares still not getting red hot around the edges, and my water is only getting warm, not HOT!! is this all down to the sludge?

In my cupboard i have a red pump with 3 speed settings when i flick through the settings the pump changes speed , i can hear that, plus i have two gray type valves with a metal switch for either maunal or auto.
The pump and these two valves where installed last year.
Plus my tank in the same cupboard looks pretty new, there is a thermostat on that, what temp should it be set at?

Any other help is greatly appreciated and hopefully my house will be warm come saturday afternoon.

Thanks again

Dan

 

[tommyscouse]

update.

had a plumber round, my system just needs a manual flush.

Thermostat gone on my heater tank, so just need to replace that. And rads not getting red hot because.....WAIT FOR IT.....

My 2 year old son had turned down the stat on my back boiler, i didnt even check as i didnt think in a million years hed get to it.

Cheers for the help guys

 

[bengasman]

 

[bengasman]

By the way, am I correct in concluding he is your first?
My mate's boy, many years ago, at the same sort of age had figured out how to use the toaster and the vcr. Unfortunately, he had not quite worked out which was for what. Vcr was never quite the same after my mate got the bread out.