Is BG HomeCare worthwhile for a problematic system?

[MisterBoy]

How many rads have you got? Probably only a few hundred to replace them all if you have basic plumbing skills. Imagine 10mm of crud in a radiator - the chemicals dissolve 5mm, you've still got plenty left! The pipes should be ok assuming you have good circulation round the system.

It is a big house so I think it was 22 in total when I had to count them all for the powerflush quote!! Several are very new but others could easily be 20 years old. I was chatting to our regular plumber on the phone whether we could remove one of the older ones and inspect it to see how full of rubbish it is.

We might look at flushing them individually and replacing the older ones. If it's something that needs doing because they are at the end of their life, delaying isn't going to save anything - we set a pot of money aside buying an old house knowing we would have things like this. Replacing radiators is far less stressful than having to pull floorboards up to access the pipes though it sounds like they'd all need doing at once to avoid new ones getting 'contaminated'?

 

[cdbe]

So quite a few more than average then. Still worth considering, and might need resizing to keep the water temperature down.

 

[MisterBoy]

So quite a few more than average then. Still worth considering, and might need resizing to keep the water temperature down.

If they need doing they need doing, but I'm loath to spend time or money unless it does, I'd want to figure out the root cause first. Is it something one can tell visually by taking one in the garden and seeing how much crud is in there?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If they need doing they need doing, but I'm loath to spend time or money unless it does, I'd want to figure out the root cause first. Is it something one can tell visually by taking one in the garden and seeing how much crud is in there?

Something you could quite easily do, but checking one, will not prove the others are the in the same condition. You would need to forward and back flush it, until it runs perfectly clear. It;s not a quick job, if you are paying for it, so a powerflush doesn't usually include that.

Best to tackle it as a summer job, when the heating is not needed, working from top down, removing each radiator in turn, taking outside for flushing, and flushing it's pipework.

It's not my trade, but I once tackled a 50Kw commercial radiator, done over a weekend. That needed an hydraulic lift, and was completely choked up with debris.