what is this brown goop?

[KnappGate]

My CH system seems to be full of mud!

Some background: it's a conventional system with a header tank in the loft, gas boiler / pump and a diverter valve to feed hot water to the hot water tank and radiators. I noticed that when the boiler came on I had hot water dribbling into the header tank from the vent pipe. After some investigation I found that the fill pipe between the header tank and the boiler circuit was almost completely blocked. I cut into the fill pipe at the bottom and rodded it through and got lots of very dark brown water out. The header tank also had two inches of brown sediment in the bottom, right up to the level of the outlet.

I've got rid of as much of this sediment as I can, and flushed the system through with tap water, and I'm trying to find something to flush and clean the system properly now. While I was flushing water through the system, several lots of dark brown water came out but mostly what came out was clear water. It seemed that this was a sediment rather than something in solution.

The header tank didn't originally have a lid on, so there's been plenty of time for debris to fall into the tank, but I've taken out literally a couple of gallons of thick goop and it's hard to believe that all managed to fall into the tank. I can't think where else it would have come from though.

Any ideas what it is, also any suggestions on the best way to get the rest of it out of the system? I imagine it's settled all over the place.

 

[doyle]

there is stuff to flush the sytem and alos use rust inhibiter

 

[breezer]

i am sorry i am of no help, but i found your description of brown goop to be very funny, so at least yo have made my day.

good luck with the brown goop

 

[bobthebender]

not sure what your goop is but lots of people pour inhibitor into the f&e tank and there it sits until someone like me finds it in the form of an Octopus in the tank....could be what happened here ?

 

[ChrisR]

Inhinitor intriduced that way does find its way in as the water expands and contracts in the system.
I think MB-1 makes a gloopy slime.

A dose of Fernox DS-40, or Kamco FX-2, should clear everything out.

 

[KnappGate]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try using a flushing agent and see if that clears things up. I guess if that fails the next step would be to get somebody to power flush the system for me?

 

[Softus]

When a system gets that bad you're on a hiding to nothing. You'll have rust and magnetite in all the pipework, every radiator, stuffing up the pump, and sitting on MZV balls. Like a particularly muddy pair of rugby shorts, it will take several washes and rinses to get even most of the crud out. Since it's summertime you'd be well advised to take each rad off (be wary of the evil black) and rinse it through in the garden.

I'd resign myself to a couple of seasons of repeated draining, chemical cleansing, . You have exactly the kind of system for which the Magnaclean was invented.

BTW, MB-1 and the like won't achieve anything in a dirty system, so don't throw your money away before it's a good deal cleaner.

 

[KnappGate]

When a system gets that bad you're on a hiding to nothing. You'll have rust and magnetite in all the pipework, every radiator, stuffing up the pump, and sitting on MZV balls. Like a particularly muddy pair of rugby shorts, it will take several washes and rinses to get even most of the crud out. Since it's summertime you'd be well advised to take each rad off (be wary of the evil black) and rinse it through in the garden.

I'd resign myself to a couple of seasons of repeated draining, chemical cleansing, . You have exactly the kind of system for which the Magnaclean was invented.

BTW, MB-1 and the like won't achieve anything in a dirty system, so don't throw your money away before it's a good deal cleaner.

I think you're right. I'm tempted to put some flushing agent in and let that slosh round for a week or so, maybe repeat a couple of times. Assuming that my system really is in a bad way (as it seems to be) with sediment, black corrosion etc, is there any point trying that?

I'd like to avoid taking all the rads off if I can help it, and £200 quid or so for a power flush is a lot of money to me, but if I'm flogging a dead horse here I might as well be realistic about it.

 

[KnappGate]

...

PS is that you Tim?

Peter H

 

[Softus]

I'm tempted to put some flushing agent in and let that slosh round for a week or so, maybe repeat a couple of times. Assuming that my system really is in a bad way (as it seems to be) with sediment, black corrosion etc, is there any point trying that?

Yes, there's a lot of point.

I'd like to avoid taking all the rads off if I can help it, and £200 quid or so for a power flush is a lot of money to me, but if I'm flogging a dead horse here I might as well be realistic about it.

The cheap method, which will do a lot more than nothing, is open to you as an option. Basically it's this:

1. Shut all radiator valves.
2. Turn off the boiler and pump.
3. Open the valves on one radiator - highest in altitude first.
4. Turn on the pump, and start draining.
5. Turn off the pump when it's no longer pumping water.
6. Finish draining, and then close the rad valves that you opened.
7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 for each radiator in turn.

It's poor cousin to a powerflush or rad removal program, but it has the effect of flushing some debris out of the radiators, without removing them.

Whatever action you take you'll clear something out, but don't run the system for more than a few days without either cleaner or inhibitor in.

 

[Dan Robinson]

and £200 quid or so for a power flush

and the rest!

 

[gas4you]

£350 plus for a 7 rad system I would say is the going rate for a powerflush

 

[KnappGate]

Ouch!

 

[DP]

Water dripping from the vent pipe would seem to be the cause of goop in the tank.

While system cleanse will have to take place be it hosing system components in the garden, chemical use or mechanical method, pump over will have to be sorted. What you have in the header tank is esentially remains of your radiators.

 

[KnappGate]

Water dripping from the vent pipe would seem to be the cause of goop in the tank.

While system cleanse will have to take place be it hosing system components in the garden, chemical use or mechanical method, pump over will have to be sorted. What you have in the header tank is esentially remains of your radiators.

Aha, you're suggesting that the brown sludge in there is finely ground rust? Makes sense I guess, that it would be carried around if it was fine enough and then settle out in the header tank. The radiators aren't leaking or showing any external signs of corrosion (yet?), but there was a heck of a lot of sludge in the tank and if that's all rust then there's been a *lot* of corrosion. And I'm sure that there's more of the stuff in the rest of the system too. I'm going to see if I can find something suitable to flush the stuff out and hope there hasn't been too much damage done.