central heating cleaning process?? - Glowworm betacom

[blackjm75]

Hi guys - (I have given a full background directly below but feel free to move straight to the 'bolded' text and ready from there for the questions)

Firstly I have no experience of working on a plumbing system but can do basic things and have a basic understanding of how they work.

I had a completely new system installed when we moved in maybe 2 and a half years ago. The boiler installed (at the plumbers suggestion) was a Glowworm betacom combi boilerwhich I have since discovered is a nightmare for any work to be carried out on and the parts are ridiculously expensive compared to other similar boilers. The guys who installed it were poor to say the least and didn't put an inhibitor in the system.

A few months back the hot water was luke warm at best (having gradually gotten worse) so I got a plumber in to sort out and after replacing the diverter valve (improved somewhat) and later the plate heat exchanger we had it going ok. A couple of months down the line it is nearly back to where it was - luke warm.

One of the things that the plumber doing the work a few months back said what that its worth using something like Fernox F3 to clear out any dirt/sludge that may have built up with the lack of inhibitor in the system and then afterwards adding inhibitor. He did run me through what I needed to do but I want to make sure of the process so I dont miss anything.

Could you help me out by giving me some bullet points of the process?

From what I remember it was something like this:
*turn off the central heating
*close both of the valves on the towel rail to isolate it
*drain towel rail and then fill with Fernox F3. Open valves to run the cleaner around the system. Bleed the towel rail.
*run for a few weeks and then drain the system from one of the radiators down stairs that has a drain point.
*refill/drain the system a few times to get rid of the Fernox F3
*Finally fill it up/add inhibitor and bleed

Is there anything that I have missed?
Are there any points I need to be careful of to make sure that I dont get air blocks and that the system refills properly?


Thanks for all your help

Joe[/list][/list]

 

[ukrobj]

F3 isn't necessarily going to clean your whole system, it may breakdown a majority, but if your boiler has a substantial amount of magnetite then your looking at a better flushing process.

Do you have any type of filter on the central heating return pipe?

It may seem a lot, but depending on how bad the system is a power-flush may be in order, get a few quotes explaining the problem and look at a filter on the return to prevent this in the future.

Inhibitors are helpful, but a clean system is better than any inhibitor. Your now past the preventive stage and into the remedial process.

The process you described will indeed assist you in cleaning some of the deposits from your system, so if your confident, try it. Otherwise i suggest the above.

 

[curlyzoo2002]

you could try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJWlPDxMnCM