have you tried turning all rads off apart from the one thats cold and runing the heating to see if it will shift any possible blockage as its more than one , do one at once
2 cold rads, ideas exhausted
- Thread starter Jane17
- Start date
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You will never get all the dirt out, especially from a microbore system which is difficult to flush.
if you seem to have a problem with black sludge, I recommend you invest in a Magnaclean. It will cost you about £100 and is a fairly straightforward DIY plumbing job to fit (you drain down, and put it on a vertical 22mm Return pipe).
It will capture whatever black sediment is flowing round in the water. You can use it while you are circulating X400 for 4 weeks, but it will continue trapping black particles for years to come.
I guarantee you will be amazed and delighted to see how much black sludge it collects.
It will trap whatever black is circulating in the water and prevent it forming new blockages. It will also trap whatever black is softened by the X400 from old deposits and washed round.
I am just a householder.
if you seem to have a problem with black sludge, I recommend you invest in a Magnaclean. It will cost you about £100 and is a fairly straightforward DIY plumbing job to fit (you drain down, and put it on a vertical 22mm Return pipe).
It will capture whatever black sediment is flowing round in the water. You can use it while you are circulating X400 for 4 weeks, but it will continue trapping black particles for years to come.
I guarantee you will be amazed and delighted to see how much black sludge it collects.
It will trap whatever black is circulating in the water and prevent it forming new blockages. It will also trap whatever black is softened by the X400 from old deposits and washed round.
I am just a householder.
Hi Tony,
Desludger was Sentinel Central Heating Sludge Remover X400. Put 1 litre in for 4 weeks as in the summer while in the loft noticed that the header tank had about half inch of sludge in the bottom. Cleaned that out before putting the desludge in.
When we flushed the system the water ran clear, BUT when this didn't solve the problem we took both radiators off and put a hose through them outside and it was jet black so system had not flushed effectively, probably due to our problem!
Desludger was Sentinel Central Heating Sludge Remover X400. Put 1 litre in for 4 weeks as in the summer while in the loft noticed that the header tank had about half inch of sludge in the bottom. Cleaned that out before putting the desludge in.
When we flushed the system the water ran clear, BUT when this didn't solve the problem we took both radiators off and put a hose through them outside and it was jet black so system had not flushed effectively, probably due to our problem!
After reading all the replies Richard says that the only bit of the pipes that we don't really know whether they are clean or not are the returns on these 2 radiators. We are inspired to try and crack this ourselves with all your help and will do the bucket test next weekend. We will also be able to check whether trvs and lockshields are working effectively. He's betting on the fact we have sludge collected in the return pipes! I'm wondering about flattened pipes. No-one has suggested that the radiators might be knackered, do we assume that that is the least likely?
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If you did'nt have the heating on in summer it would'nt circulate Jane,
Do as Bacho suggested, opening valve to a bucket.
I suspect you wont get flow through at the cold rad valves and very little flow at lukewarm rad valves. If this proves to be the case, then sadly you have blocked pipes to which a back flush may move, though pipe replacement may be a cheaper option.
Do as Bacho suggested, opening valve to a bucket.
I suspect you wont get flow through at the cold rad valves and very little flow at lukewarm rad valves. If this proves to be the case, then sadly you have blocked pipes to which a back flush may move, though pipe replacement may be a cheaper option.
john is right about the Magnaclean its a good bit of kit, and yeah it is hard to unblock mico boar, but its worth a try shutting down the rest of rads and pushing the water trough one. its worked for me in the past and it dose not cost any think to try, good luck with it
your rads will be ok, its the small bore pipework where the problem lies.
You seem to have a very short memory of how long it was in for!
X100 needs to be in for at least 4 weeks to have any significant effect at all and it is a very mild non-acidic chemical. It has to be circulated through ALL the rads if its hoped to loosen the deposits.
The bucket test will be very informative which is why it should have been done at first!
Tony
Bucket test done. All 4 entries/exits of the 2 rads emitted free flowing water without pump on, just under gravity from the header. Though both returns spluttered very briefly to start with. As all seemed to be working and water running clear replaced rads. Pretty much no effect on the radiators other than a very very very slight increase in the temp of each.
When bleeding rads there is still some black even though water ran clear, which suggests there is sludge still blocking pipes??? We are going to put more desludge in the system for a few weeks and try it all again, since the rads have got a little warmer since we first tried to tackle the problem. Also next time we'll run a clear pipe between the inlets and outlets to see what's happening or rather what's not happening!
Any ideas or improvements to this plan?
When bleeding rads there is still some black even though water ran clear, which suggests there is sludge still blocking pipes??? We are going to put more desludge in the system for a few weeks and try it all again, since the rads have got a little warmer since we first tried to tackle the problem. Also next time we'll run a clear pipe between the inlets and outlets to see what's happening or rather what's not happening!
Any ideas or improvements to this plan?
Can't afford the magnaclean. Tried rebalancing several times during the different things we've done. Has no effect. There is no extra heat to the 2 rads when all other rads are turned right off but we have water on at same time so having read another thread, that may be something we need to shut down.
yes, if the cylinder is stealing flow, there will be less to go round the rads.
This sometimes happens if you have a 3-port valve and it is worn so it does not shut off the HW supply tightly.
If I were you I would start saving up for a Magnaclean, since you have a microbore system, sludge, and poor circulation. You truly will be amazed and delighted to see how much it traps.
I am just a householder.
This sometimes happens if you have a 3-port valve and it is worn so it does not shut off the HW supply tightly.
If I were you I would start saving up for a Magnaclean, since you have a microbore system, sludge, and poor circulation. You truly will be amazed and delighted to see how much it traps.
I am just a householder.
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