Need for Inhibitor In Old Rads?

[macman81]

I've just had a pressure relief valve changed on a Sime combi system. My engineer did a partial draindown and refill, but when I asked about topping up with inhibitor, he specifically warned against using it on an older system (my boiler is 8 years old but the rads are probably 20 years plus old, the system was flushed when the boiler was replaced). He said that on such an old system it was only the sludge that probably stopped the rads from leaking, remove it and you are likely to develop leaks. Only use if rads have developed specific cold spots (which they haven't). Is this an old wives tale, or good advice?

 

[ChrisR]

He's a dork.
Inhibitors prevent corrosion, they don't create holes. System cleaners can do that, but only to rads which are about to fail anyway.

 

[macman81]

That's what I thought. But is there any point in adding inhibitor to a dirty system, or does it have to be flushed first and then inhibitor added? I'm reluctant to powerflush for the reasons given in the original post. Would it be effective to drain down, fit a Magnaclean unit and then add inhibitor?
My reasoning on this is that it would at least remove the sludge that is circulating (as opposed to sitting in the rads), and prolong the life of the pump and boiler.

 

[Timmyturtle]

If it had inhibitor put in when flushed 8 yrs ago then It shouldnt be THAT dirty even now.
Definitely put inhibitor in now I would say

The plumber who said that probably just didnt have any on board?
Sounds more like he thought you want to put flushing chemicals in?

 

[macman81]

OK, thanks, will definitely add inhibitor. Any thoughts on the Magnaclean? I've also seen a similar device called Boiler Buddy which is a bit cheaper but doesn't look quite so user- friendly in terms of cleaning the filter.

 

[Timmyturtle]

Isnt that plastic too?not good in the long term or is that just me nervous about plastics long term use in heating

 

[ChrisR]

Boilers are full of plastics now, including some pumps.

Boiler buddy's are ok, just different really.

If you're going to spend some time on it then any amount of flushing wouldn't be wasted. You can use the mains to get a fair bit out, or you can go the whole hog and hire a machine and use cemicals. If it's fairly clean though I'd just keep the inhibitor topped up.

 

[Stingray13]

This sounds to me like the guy just couldn't be bothered go down to a merchant and buy one of the kits to put it into your radiator even the one's that go in a sealant gun or a liquid one and an ezi fill.

For the extra few ££ always add the inhibitor, inhibitor will prevent any further corrosion it will not remove build up sounds to me he got confused with x300 or something.