Magnaclean a must?

[Unhandyman]

Simple question - hopefully simple answer!

I'm having a new boiler (and two additional radiators) installed soon. System will be powerflushed. Should Magnaclean be installed as well? The British Gas guy who came to quote seemed to know his stuff but he didn't mention Magnaclean, whereas the local engineers coming to quote next week mentioned it as though it was standard practice. Is it?

Thanks.

 

[hansthebear]

Spirotech Magnabooster is the equivalent product BG use, costs you approx £230 on top of your quote if its not there already.

 

[grahamtheplumber]

fit a magna-clean proffessional ,they will remove a larger amount than the spirotech before it needs cleaning.

 

[adlplumbing]

they are good as keep ur system cleaner for longer

 

[doitall]

Fail to see why the installation cost are so high, when it's part of a boiler change. £20.00 tops for 5mins extra work is more than enough.

 

[Onetap]

Should Magnaclean be installed as well?

There's an answer here, with pictures;
http://www.vaillantservice.co.uk/VAILLANT/Boiler_Hot_water_problems.html

IMHO, I'd advise fitting some permanent filter device, but not necessarily a Magnaclean.

Modern heat exchangers are far more sensitive to magnetite sludge than older types. Powerflushing will shift most of the loose stuff, but the sludge forms a resilient coating, some of which will become loose and re-locate to the heat exchanger after the powerflush has been finished.

 

[gas112]

No it is not standard practise same as a power flush should not be standard practise if a system has been properly fitted and flushed and inhibited from day 1 then there should be no need for it.
But as doitall says it is an additional 5 minutes of work during an installation and i bet very very few just allow the 80 quid they cost .

 

[Agile]

If the system is propely cleaned then there will be little dirt for a Magnaclean to pick up.

If I had any doubts then I would fit a gauze strainer as they cost about £12 and filter anything not just magnetic parts. But then I clean a system properly before fitting a new boiler.

I was called to a new boiler system which had had dirt collect in the plate HE. It was not a lot of dirt so I just opted for fitting a Magnaclean with a gauze filter in the outlet.

After two weeks I returned and inspected the filter. There was less than 1 cc of dirt there and I advised the owner that it would only need annual checls in future.

Tony

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

magnaclean suffer from leaks on the top seal, so no 20 quid is not enough to install it as what happens when it leaks who has to go back??

 

[Onetap]

If the system is propely cleaned then there will be little dirt for a Magnaclean to pick up.

I thoroughly powerflushed a system once, all done as per the Kamco instructions using the recommended chemicals and with repeated flushing and back-flushing. Shortly after that, I had to cut out a section of 15mm tube in the ground floor void. Guess what? It was still densely coated with black magnetite sludge, the bore was probably less than 10mm. Powerflushing has never quite inspired the same confidence after that.

There had been a history of corrosion and radiator leaks, due to the F&E tank being set up incorrectly &/or leaks from the system. The rads had been replaced by the Big Gas company under the maintenance contract.

There will be some corrosion deposits in most existing heating systems.

 

[Agile]

Kamco power flushing and recommended chemicals is based on an average system which has been properly maintained and not having a fault.

When a problem has occured and the system is severely blocked then special treatment will be needed. This usually entails using acidic chemicals which then run the risk of causing leaks in already corroded rads etc.

I take time when cleaning which enables me to use acidic chemicals when required at low concentrations which may reduce the chances of a leak occuring. The acid is added a little at a time and the remaining acidity monitored to see how much has been used up dissolving the dirt in the system.

Tony

 

[Onetap]

Acidic cleaners won't shift magnetite sludge, they would dissolve limescale deposits.

ISTR that the apropriate treatment for sludge would be a filter device to remove entrained solids from the water stream. A flocculant would get more of the deposits into the water, from where they could be filtered out, but at the risk if some settling in the heat exchanger.

 

[silverback18]

I would say it is more of a case of Good Practice to fit a filter, whichever one it is, everyone has their preference.

 

[Agile]

Acidic cleaners won't shift magnetite sludge, they would dissolve limescale deposits.

I have to disagree with you there. But different acids have varying effectiveness on different deposits found in heating systems.

 

[Unhandyman]

Thank you everyone for very interesting replies, especially Onetap and Agile.

For those talking about prices, in case you're interested, to fit Magnaclean in the course of installing my new boiler British Gas quoted an additional £230+VAT, while my local engineer quoted an extra £85+VAT! Overall, although it wasn't cheap, the BG quote seemed quite fair, so I don't know what's going on there...