Magnaclean, powerflush, boiler maintenance

[merryfay]

Hi,

I had a lovely shiny new viessman boiler installed in August 2006.
It's worked fine & was serviced by the british gas homecare thingy in January, until now.
There was some stuff put through the system in October 2007 too to protect/clean it or something like that when I had a couple of new rads installed.

Apparently there's sludge in the system & bg are saying it isn't covered by the homecare agreement, & the system needs to be power-flushed & a magnaclean installed.

First question, should a just under 3 year-old boiler be having these problems?
Second, surely a boiler service should involve cleaning it? If not, then are we expected to not only have our boiler's serviced once a year, but also have someone come & flush it too -it seems mad to me to not have both combined as one service...
Third, what's a magnaclean all about. How long does it last, how is it cleaned, if it was left not cleaned for over a year, what would be likely to happen?
Lastly, what approximately would be a reasonable quote in Bristol to get this installed?

Thanks
merryfay

 

[D_Hailsham]

I had a lovely shiny new viessman boiler installed in August 2006.

You should not be having sludge problems if the system was properly cleaned when the boiler was installed and the correct inhibitor added at the time.

There was some stuff put through the system in October 2007 too to protect/clean it or something like that when I had a couple of new rads installed.

Do you mean they flushed the system (connnected a hose or machine to the system and ran clean water through it) or just added inhibitor?

Apparently there's sludge in the system & bg are saying it isn't covered by the homecare agreement, & the system needs to be power-flushed & a magnaclean installed.

BG have a reputation for tryng to sell powerflushing when it is not required.

What evidence did they produce that there is sludge in the system?

surely a boiler service should involve cleaning it? If not, then are we expected to not only have our boiler's serviced once a year, but also have someone come & flush it too -it seems mad to me to not have both combined as one service

A boiler service is just that - servicing the boiler. it does not cover the rest of the central heating system, unless you have paid the extra. Even then you have to read the small print to see what is covered. It's a bit like insurance; you only find out what it does not cover when you make a claim!

Third, what's a magnaclean all about. How long does it last, how is it cleaned, if it was left not cleaned for over a year, what would be likely to happen?

It's a filter to trap all the sludge circulatng in the system.
It last indefinitely.
It is cleaned when it needs to be - may be every few months to start, then every year. Depends on how clean the system is to begin with.

See Magnaclean

 

[simond]

Magnaclean is a poorly executed product which has cost me a lot of money in recalls. It carries your central heating water in a predominantly plastics enclosure with plastic valves and has the durability of a prawn sandwich.

I would suggest you look at the Spirovent Magnabooster, it is brass, and will outlast the boiler.

As stated above, I would be asking BG for evidence of sludge. Saying the system needs cleaning is a standard 'get out of jail free card' to enable a hapless BG fitter to escape.

Not all BG fitters are hapless, but significant numbers of them have only just started shaving. If you get an experienced one, they can be very good.