New Boiler - No Powerflush or Magnaclean

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Hiya,

I had a new boiler installed a few weeks ago. It's been pointed out to me by a more knowledgeable friend that it may not have been installed to best practices.

Basically, an old Halstead was ripped out and replaced with a Worcester Bosch 37CDi (accredited installer). The rads and pipework it's feeding are between 20-40 years old. According to my WB commissioning log, the installer used Flushex and then Protex. There was no powerflush and no magnaclean has been fitted (I had no idea what either of these things meant until a few hours ago).

Today, to make way for some building work, one of the older rads was drained and taken off and all the water was black, with some sludge in the bottom. This is what prompted me to question what might be running through my new boiler.

I would estimate that since installation, the heating has been run for 2 hours max to test things, possibly less. During testing, all of the rads heated up nicely with no noticeable cold spots.

Can anyone advise what I should do to rectify this situation? Should I get someone out to powerflush and/or fit a magnaclean? Is it too late now the boiler has been installed - will the damage already be done?

I will be working my way around this house and replacing all rads over the next year one at a time, but meanwhile I am concerned about possible damage to my boiler from the gunk in the old ones.

Would be grateful for any advice for a complete boiler/plumbing/radiator (girly) novice!

Thank you

:D
 
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an old Halstead was ripped out and replaced with a Worcester Bosch 37CDi (accredited installer).

Qualification for accredited installer status is based on how many rather than how properly jobs are completed.

Manufacturers like to humour installers into thinking they can join some (worthless) club. However the only one I'd be interested in is the one we all used to be members of.

The club where we used to be able to buy boilers cheaper than our customers could.
 
You need to question what the quotation said and what the price was.

It seems to me based on what you have told us that he has done a bad job and certainly not cleaned the system at all.

My suggestion is that you question the installer about the condition/colour of the system water and the lack of a power flush when the system was obviously pretty dirty.

I am sure he will make some excuses or even refuse to speak to you. In that case you could make a complaint to Worcester. They will not be very interested as they support those installers who fit a lot of their boilers but if they had enough complaints they might take a little interest.

We read of an absolutely appalling approved Viessmann installer on a forum who had to be reported to the police for his threatening behaviour.

Tony
 
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ask yourself if you want/wanted to pay the extra for it, nothing to do with being a bad installer or installation necessarily Agile.
 
If a client did not want to pay to have a dirty system cleaned then I would not install anything for him.

I quote a reasonable price to do a job in the best way.

Quite apart from anything else, if I did any work to anything less that the best practice the client would have a valid claim against me.

There are plenty of cowboys who will do a job cheaply and badly!
 
I don't really want to debate why it wasn't done - he obviously wanted to save money and I wasn't armed with enough knowledge to question his methods.

My question is what can I do to rectify the situation now? I am not sure I want this guy back as I had a few other issues with the install - flue being totally horizontal being one. Instead I will just organise someone else to rectify.

I will definitely fit a filter as suggested before the central heating is run again. Is there anything else you would recommend? Should I be worried about the brief exposure the boiler has had to dirty water?

Thanks
 
Most modern boilers will tolerate brief exposure to dirty water.
As suggested fit a filter to the return. I still recommend magnaclean as IMO it removes magnetite particles more effectively than other brands.
 
E-on will do a powerfluh an fit a filter for £450-

Why on earth would yopu promote Eon here?

Most independants would do the same, and the client benefits from a better after sales, providing the client uses some discretion.

Utilising a national won't guatrantee a better job.
 
I don't really want to debate why it wasn't done - he obviously wanted to save money and I wasn't armed with enough knowledge to question his methods.

My question is what can I do to rectify the situation now? I am not sure I want this guy back as I had a few other issues with the install - flue being totally horizontal being one. Instead I will just organise someone else to rectify.

Thanks

My view is still that he has not done the job properly.

If you paid the normal market price for the installation then cleaning the system is part of the job!

If the flue you refer to is just the last part with the terminal then it has a built in slope for the inner part and the outer can be horizontal.

MOST manufacturers understand that but there are still a few who still say it needs to be at a slope of 3 degrees back to the boiler.

Its better NOT to slope back to the boiler because that encourages water to run back down the intake and cause damage to the boiler.

Tony
 
MOST manufacturers understand that a few who still say it needs to be at a slope of 3 degrees backbut there are still to the boiler.

Its better NOT to slope back to th
e boiler because that encourages water to run back down the intake and cause damage to the boiler.

Tony[/quote]


It is somewhat a relief that we have with us an expert who knows better than the guys who build the boilers.
 
My view is still that he has not done the job properly.

If you paid the normal market price for the installation then cleaning the system is part of the job!

All he has done is a chemical flush..but as far I can see, this is all WB insist on in their manual.

If the flue you refer to is just the last part with the terminal then it has a built in slope for the inner part and the outer can be horizontal.

MOST manufacturers understand that but there are still a few who still say it needs to be at a slope of 3 degrees back to the boiler.

Its better NOT to slope back to the boiler because that encourages water to run back down the intake and cause damage to the boiler.

Tony

When I noticed a large amount of water pouring out of my flue I downloaded and read the Worcester Bosch flue instruction manual. They do insist of a 3 degree slope, it's not built in to the flue. I called the guy back and he rectified (though I suspect the slope is now more like 9 degrees). Essentially, he had just shoved the new flue through the existing hole - as this wasn't for a condensing boiler, it didn't slope.

Shoddy work.
 
Lets assume you do have a condensing boiler!

All the normal flues that I have seen have a built in slope for the inner part! If you look at the flue you should be able to see this.

Sloping the outside of the flue risks getting rainwater into the air inlet!

Done properly a chemical clean is usually adequate. But when done properly the water should also look pretty clear!

Tony
 

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