powerflush with new central heating pump???

[cheekychapsta]

I got some tenants complaining that their gas bills are too high when they turn on the central heating

(is this a coincidence considering utility prices have gone up and its a large undoubleglazed, uninsulated property with 11 rads)

my lettings agent dealing with the property arranged an engineer to pop around and check where all this money was going and his apparent conclusion was that the system just needed a powerflush and nothing more. I then got charged £50 for the visit then got told it'd be £750 for the powerflush - something just didnt seem right?!

I did my own shopping around and got the price knocked down to £400 then a mate of mine said he knew someone that'd do it for about £250 which I was a bit skeptical about. My mate took a plumber around the property and told me that the c/h pump also needed replacing too and with the c/h pump the whole job would be £400.

The thing is the pump works and the way the plumber diagnosed the pump is he didnt touch it but just looked at it

Am i just being over skeptical?? or does this pump not need changing and is there anything I can do to inspect the pump at all??

BTW the other plumbers have not been to the property. They've based a quote on the info I gave - 11 rads gavitational/storage tank based boiler system and microbore piping.

Finally is powerflushing easy to do? Could I just hire the gear? how much would it be? and what chemicals would I need?

Apologies for the long thread but thanks reading and any advice given

 

[John506]

Are you familiar with draining down and filling up a central heating system?

Or know any family that will do it as a favour?

 

[D_Hailsham]

I got some tenants complaining that their gas bills are too high when they turn on the central heating

(is this a coincidence considering utility prices have gone up and its a large undoubleglazed, uninsulated property with 11 rads)

If your tenants qualify, they may be able to get insulation installed for free under the WarmFront Scheme. The useful thing, from the landlord's point of view, is that the landlord does not have to contribute anything; although they are not allowed to increase the rent for a year or two.

Other schemes are shown at: Energy Savings Trust Grant Search

 

[cheekychapsta]

ive not completely drained a central heating system only the odd rad in the house however I've just made a call to another mate who is towards the end off his plumbing course, has covered and passed the powerflushing theory part of his course and is up for giving the job a go. I reckon he should know about draining the system. Also the p/f machine comes with a user manual which I reckon he'll be able to follow plus I trust him.

I've looked into hiring a powerflush machine from HSS which is £67+vat for the 1st day and £33.50+vat per day thereafter. Is there anywhere else that may do it cheaper near/ in the uxbridge area? I did read another useful thread but lost it.

Also will certainly make enquiries on the warmfront stuff cheers

 

[londonboy]

I got some tenants complaining that their gas bills are too high when they turn on the central heating

(is this a coincidence considering utility prices have gone up and its a large undoubleglazed, uninsulated property with 11 rads)

If your tenants qualify, they may be able to get insulation installed for free under the WarmFront Scheme. The useful thing, from the landlord's point of view, is that the landlord does not have to contribute anything; although they are not allowed to increase the rent for a year or two.

Other schemes are shown at: Energy Savings Trust Grant Search

Yeh get onto warmfront/the local council. I work for one of the Warmfront/local authority installers and theres a massive phase of heating + insulation work in your area.
..... Wait for the abuse now I've said the 'W' word lol! (ps its not iguana, we're not that bad!!)

 

[cheekychapsta]

called up warmfront and dont qualify for any grants at all unfortunately and the other sites best suggestion is discounted insulation through energy supplier but I cant even get that because the tenants are foreign exchange students... oh well unlucky. I'll do the loft insulation - thats easy enough I suppose and hunt for a cavity wall quote I guess

going back to powerflushing for a minute.....

I'm looking into chemical cleaners the kamco fx2 looks good but according to the website, where I got microbore piping with 11 rads they recomend 5ltrs as opposed to the normal 2.5. This if bought from the plumb center is about £60 (neutraliser included) then the inhibitor is £13.55. I have checked screwfix and found netral ph products Sentinel X800 and fernox f3 cleaner. These products are cheaper but where they arent acidic, will they not be as effective as the kamco FX2?? If I bought just a generic heavy duty cleaner will that be more than sufficient?

 

[heatingman]

tell them to turn off heating if can't afford it, or you reduce the rent to give them some extra monies to pay bill, or they go and rent a well insulated house with an efficient boiler and preferably a landlord who doesn't try and skimp and do it all on the cheap.

 

[Bambergaspipe]

Powerflushing is pointless, it doesn`t flush and the puny pump isn`t powerful, another gimmick invented to milk more money from the gullible public.

 

[cheekychapsta]

if i wanted to skimp about I wouldnt be doing any of this or getting the double glazing done. I'm just not into unnecessary spending... sounds like you are..... would you like to pay for it?

 

[cheekychapsta]

maybe it is pointless but as im sure you can imagine I got to take reasonable neccesary steps to keep the tenants and letting agent happy. I dont think its unreasonable to get the work done because the system hasnt been cleaned in maybe 20 years but still works ok but the original engineer has already said it needs doing so i cant really go against that - im not the professional. The info on this site does help tho taa

 

[swidders]

Nothing wrong with trying basic chemical flushing (£15 to £30) to see if this helps before you invest in a "big" machine!

Also good to have double glazing - although you didn't mention this before, so how could anyone know?

You may want to consider installing TRVs on the current rads, which will mean that they will shut off when a room gets up to temperature, thus keeping bills down more.

Finally, the letting agency may have used BGas engineers (may have a contract with them), who will advise everyone to have a powerflush, regardless of whether it's of any use or relevance, since it's an easy way to blind customers with science and make a profit..

 

[Bambergaspipe]

maybe it is pointless but as im sure you can imagine I got to take reasonable neccesary steps to keep the tenants and letting agent happy. I dont think its unreasonable to get the work done because the system hasnt been cleaned in maybe 20 years but still works ok but the original engineer has already said it needs doing so i cant really go against that - im not the professional. The info on this site does help tho taa

Then 200 quid for a powerflush is what you should be paying, personally I`d stand there whilst the operative carries this out which should take at least four hours, with a drainoff hose connected at every drain point available on the system and don`t forget that you should have inhibitor added afterwards. If you`re gonna be ripped off you might as well get your money`s worth.

That`s four hours if he flushes the system with a decent chemical in the machine like X400, if he doesn`t put this in, this should be added to the installation about a week previously. Check this.

 

[cheekychapsta]

cheers lads or lasses?! cant always tell you kno lol

 

[swidders]

In fact, you could get your plumber mate to fit these TRV's, and whilst he's at it get him to take the rads off and flush them through in the garden with a hose. 11 rads should take him well less that 2 days, max!!
Friend's rate

 

[Agile]

if i wanted to skimp about I wouldnt be doing any of this or getting the double glazing done. I'm just not into unnecessary spending... sounds like you are..... would you like to pay for it?

Thats odd! You sound just like a landlord!

Why bother about any expenditure at all? Just ignore the tenants, they are just winging students!

When I was a student the only way that I could have any heating was putting a shilling in the electricity meter to run the electric fire for about 20 minutes. The landlady, Miss Hermann, was well known for fleecing the lodgers. It seems little has changed!

Tony