Have ordered the cheap bucket tester. Will let you know how it goes. What sort of pressure should I pump it up to. Tks a lot
Issue with one radiator in open vent heating system no flow
- Thread starter scoobydo123
- Start date
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I also wonder if someone has been stupid and put a ballofix under the floor seeing that the drain cleaning tape would not go very far
Pe
I had one pipe like that, I needed to keep the water pressure on the other end and keep working and rotating the steel strip I had, the bits then started coming out, it was over a metre of blocked before the "filter bed" gave way and I had full flow of dirty water. the compacted solids prevent the suspended crud from coming through and your blockage could get worse unless you persevere with it.
I once had a 10mm pipe up to 20bar before it went, needless to say one wall of the room the other end was in ended up a bit black, luckily it was being renovated.
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the worst case of blocked pipe I heard about, 12" pipe several kilometers long, they put a lead pig through it because they thought it might be a bit sandy, it took 4000psi to keep the lead pig moving. In the end there was over a tonne of sand, so they did a second pass, didnt need so much pressure and only 3 cwt of sand, a pipe wrench and some sandals...
How did you shift it pressure test from the valve to 20bar on the leg that was blocked. The blocked leg was still connected to the rest of the system?
No, I had access to both ends so I removed the valve at the rad end in the bedroom, used the nut and olive and connected the pump tester to that. T he connection to the main 22mm return was in the bathroom and I just cut that at the tee, blew out the pipe and then once clear just made a new connection to the return.
@Madrab left some x800 on the rest of the system and drained that out today. Filled up with water only and shut all other radiators off and got some flow now so radiator now gets warm. My bucket tester hasn't arrived so plan now is more x800 introduced into bathroom rad and let that circulate between boiler and bathroom rad for 10 mins then shut the bathroom rad off and let it just have the bad rad and boiler with the x800 for say 12hrs. Does this sound like a good plan? Bucket tester will be with me tonight so with the x800 in situ and the bucket tester maybe I can shift the crud?
the powdery magnetite will get dissolved quite quickly, then the larger fragments in the line will take quite a while to shift. I am still dissolving crud in the lines a week later with DS40, after a powerflush! Once the powdery bits are gone you should get some more flow, but it wont be right for weeks I suspect.
Yes, the fact you are now getting flow through the system means it is obviously starting to work and the more flow there is the better it will get but as suggested it all comes down to how badly the pipe is furred up and it it harder stuff or not. The former will take longer to dissolve and you need to be careful with using X800 as it is quite aggressive.
Once you are getting flow you may want to consider a longer acting but less brutal cleaner like the x400 that can be left in circulating for a week or 2.
OK thanks. Is it reasonably safe to leave the x800 running through the boiler and the offending radiator for 12hrs in your opinion or could I be pushing my luck? Boiler is Potterton kingfisher2 floor stander which is obviously cast iron HEx. Could maybe only dose the system with half a bottle of x800 as going to be running on a short circuit of probably 4m of 22mm reducing to 5m of 15mm. Radiator is single panel 450x1200. If I put the full amount should I before flushing out open up the rest of the radiators and let it cycle for another hour before flushing? I don't have a low spot on the boiler to drain that and don't think it has a drain cock on the boiler either so struggle to drain the boiler. I have also purchased a tf1 omega filter that I will put on the return at the boiler before introducing some x400 that I plan to leave in over Xmas. Hopefully that will continue to work and deposits can then be filtered. Finally was going to put in calchem cleaner and inhibitor.
That should be ok, not much longer though and just remember to flush it properly and completely clear. No reason not to let it run around the whole system, I would get the filter on before then though and that way the filter can catch as much as the cleaner loosen before it gets to the boiler. Nice old bombproof kingfisher 2 with a cast HEX but you want to stop as much crud getting back into the boiler as poss.
OK will get the filter on first thanks. My tenant has switched all the other rads back on and even with those on the bad one is luke warm so is getting some flow even though clearly the pipe is still heavily blocked. Would fernox F8 be better option than the x800 or are they all much of muchness. My tf1 omega has turned up and the mini bucket tester with 5L capacity.
@Madrab just tried my cheapo bucket tester and it seems to work OK. When I connect it to the system do I need to isolate the system/other radiators? Obviously I can shut lockshields / thermostatic rad valves can also shut off the pump valves if required? Do I need to do anything in the loft? There is also a one way valve thing on the flow pipe which I think is something to do with stopping the flow of water when the gravity side primary is heating the cylinder and also a cyclex valve to regulate DHW. Lastly how much should I pump it up to? Or would I be better served to cut the pipe leading from the radiator where it meets the flow pipe that actually gets good flow? Obviously don't want to damage anything as system is working apart from the one radiator. Thanks for sticking with me
@Madrab @Mike13
When I go to pressure the system with the bucket tester assume I should open the flow pipe somewhere else so the pressure has somewhere to go? Was thinking of draining down to fit the tf1 omega and whilst drained undo the union on the one way valve that stops gravity primary from leaking into the system and the bucket test the bad pipe or as the system is drained do I not need to disturb this as there will be volume in the empty radiators for the blockage to flow towards? In my mind it seems like I may have a better chance with the system hot and flowing as best as it is then putting the bucket tester on but concerned about causing issue as where will the pressure go? Don't want to mess a system up that is 90pc working. Is it safer to cut the offending pipe somewhere that is accessible and work on that dead leg?
When I go to pressure the system with the bucket tester assume I should open the flow pipe somewhere else so the pressure has somewhere to go? Was thinking of draining down to fit the tf1 omega and whilst drained undo the union on the one way valve that stops gravity primary from leaking into the system and the bucket test the bad pipe or as the system is drained do I not need to disturb this as there will be volume in the empty radiators for the blockage to flow towards? In my mind it seems like I may have a better chance with the system hot and flowing as best as it is then putting the bucket tester on but concerned about causing issue as where will the pressure go? Don't want to mess a system up that is 90pc working. Is it safer to cut the offending pipe somewhere that is accessible and work on that dead leg?
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