Is power flushing worth £200 ?

[Gasguru]

Sorry namsag and kevplumb but you should come and work down here.

It is rare to find heating systems installed correctly and in good condition.

The majority have cheap radiator valves, have suffered abuse, leaks and corrosion especially from left open filling loops. In many cases the system is full of muck.

Connecting a modern condenser onto a 30 year old open vented system and expecting the system to work under pressure and not clog up is a reciepy for disaster - see them all the time.

I have installed boilers for tight customers who won't pay for powerflushing in the past and no amount of filling/draining will shift the muck - no problem - no warranty.

On the other hand much of the powerflushing reportably done is nothing of the sort. A properly powerflushed system will normally require renewal of all the valves, quality chemicals and a proper pump (not a £300 descaling pump).

Most pumps are £1000, chemicals £50, a quality set lockshields/Trvs £100. Labour to change all the valves and flush £200-£300.

Therfore total cost to do the job properly is more like £350 - £450 + a bit for the pump cost.

Seen the price of some of the heat exchangers for condensing boilers - if they scale up its new boiler time. Any boiler damage due to scale/debris is unlikely to be covered by any warranty - thats why some warranties are so cheap.

I stopped doing installations - customers won't pay the extra compared to the cowboys - and I can do without the call backs.

 

[kevplumb]

are you making a point of missing the point

IT IS NOT ESSENTIAL

IT IS NOT PART OF THE INSTALL

it may be desirable given the condition of the system

IT AINT FLAMING MANDATORY

 

[Gasguru]

It pretty much is round my way.

 

[kevplumb]

well it aint in the frozen north

failling that can't you southern installers do the job right

 

[ChrisR]

Big point is that this chap's replacing a combi so presumably a sealed system. Much better chance that if it has never been open, it could be reasonably clean so a lesser flush might do.
Lets face it a few years ago nobody flushed anything, and not all combi systems are in trouble by a long way.

 

[arfurrrr]

Can I just say , to comply with buliding regs , MI and British Standards the bare minimum is a chemical flush .

Check out BSI they have just published the revised BS 7593:2006 Code of practice for treatment of water in domestic hot water central heating systems.

Arf .

P.S £200 is too cheap for a power flush . Its not just the cost of the chemicals its the cost of clearing up when things go tits up .

 

[Gasguru]

Just spoke to corgi notification - I gave them 7 property addresses I know have had new boilers installed since notification, only 2 are on their database.

So it gives a fair indication of the sort of installers we have around my area - unregistered, cheap migrant, or cowboy corgi.

 

[kevplumb]

Just spoke to corgi notification - I gave them 7 property addresses I know have had new boilers installed since notification, only 2 are on their database.

So it gives a fair indication of the sort of installers we have around my area - unregistered, cheap migrant, or cowboy corgi.

what the flying does that have to do with anything

 

[kevplumb]

MI and British Standards the bare minimum is a chemical flush .

i rest my case BTW herb your membership went thro last night

 

[Gasguru]

kevplumb said

failling that can't you southern installers do the job right

Thats the problem most of the installations in London are so p**s poorly installed that they are rotten and full of c**p. If only 2 out of 7 boiler replacements are being notified it gives a fair indication of the state the industries in. Perhaps you have the luxury of not competeing with the low life. I've had 3 calls this week for sign offs or sorting out recent un-registered installations. Come down here and work and you'll see the state we're in.

 

[kevplumb]

Perhaps you have the luxury of not competeing with the low life.

education son i am the "low life" ask anybody that knows me

but the job is flaming well right either a 24kw combi or a 250kw warm air

no flies on me
never has been and never will be

so on a personal note

stick yer southern crap where the sun don't shine

 

[ChrisRoberts]

Just spoke to corgi notification - I gave them 7 property addresses I know have had new boilers installed since notification, only 2 are on their database.

So it gives a fair indication of the sort of installers we have around my area - unregistered, cheap migrant, or cowboy corgi.

what the flying does that have to do with anything

Not much. But registering an appliance with the dog firm is only a service offered. It's not against the law to fit one and not tell them. As long as U notify building control.

 

[Gasguru]

So the few installations carried out by corgi installers aren't contravening section 7.3 by not GWNing.

 

[Paul Barker]

Seen the price of some of the heat exchangers for condensing boilers - if they scale up its new boiler time.

So clearly install boilers with time proven heat exchanger technology that take sonly 5 minutes to change in the unliklely event you might need to in say 30 years, and will only cost the then equivalent of £120 today.

BUDERUS!

 

[chr15]

Re- powerflushing,my system at home is about 30 years old-open vented baxi bermuda with 8 rads,the whole heating circuit is piped in 15mm and it isnt fully pumped,and all rads get hot all the time,when I drained it off to put a new radiator in a year or so ago the water was crystal clear,the tiniest bit of black at the bottom of the old rad I took off. If I was going to fit a high effeciency boiler to this this system I would have no problem with cold flushing it,add a bottle of sentinel and chemically flush it and then hot flush it when the new boiler is in-no powerflushing required. What did we do 10 years ago when powerflushing wasn't heard of,I think powerflushing can obviously be useful on the the most badly affected systems and if the customer is asking for one and you have a machine then I suppose supplying a service to pay for that machine is ok but it is by no means essential-I think the people that own these machines are usually going to say it is essential and the others aren't. I havent got one by the way. But if a system was that bad I would recommend a powerflush and then get someone in to do it or I could always hire the machine and dod it myself. Its saturday everyone