Powerflushing - a good idea/dangers?

[harrowboroughboy2009]

Is Powerflushing a good idea?

What I mean is - from your experience, is it safe? I have heard stories about it blowing old fittings off and casuing leaks? Any truth in these?

My CH system is over 15 years old now and some rafds take longer to warm and the water when vented rads is quite darkish in colour.

Is a powerflush a good idea? What srer the advantages of one please??

 

[DP]

My experience is that power flush and chemical cleanse needs to be carried out to remove maximum amount of sediment from the system to allow modern boiler to function for maximum duration. 'Dirty' system is guaranteed to kill the boiler prematurely.

If someone claims to power flush and clean your system in couple of hours, it can only be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[swbjackson]

In ten years of powerflushing I've only had a few leaks. Very occasionally a rad valve will leak after the old crud has been cleaned away from the gland. The only other leak I've had was on an old zone valve which started leaking on the valve spindle.


The only time to be wary is on microbore systems when the powerflush can push muck into the manifolds.

 

[bengasman]

Powerflushing does not cause leaks.
It may reveal them, but that is only because the leak was already there, but plugged with dirt.
Not a diy job.
Takes about an hour to set up, and usually a couple of hours to rinse.
I normally average about 2 rads per hour.
Stay away form companies that send 2 guys; 90% of the job does not need the second one you are paying for.
Virtually no difference in time; if 1 can do they job in 6 hours, 2 could maybe do it in 5.

 

[Happyplumber]

Take the two men thing with pinch of salt,alot of engineers have an apprentice or helper who will help to do the job quicker .the old saying two hands are better then one come to mind

You want to get a fixed price for powerflush ,i use kamco gear and have been on their course which admittedly was many many years ago.They also have all the details of how to carry out powerflush on their site is worth looking at even for diyer
A hot flush using magna filter and the correct chemicals will clean out your system to perform at optimum efficency,any leaks can be rectified as the plumber will be onsite

 

[bengasman]

Take the two men thing with pinch of salt,alot of engineers have an apprentice or helper who will help to do the job quicker .the old saying two hands are better then one come to mind

That would be: one man, and one boy.
I have done powerflushes with an apprentice, and it took longer than doing it on my own.
I always thought the adage was: 2 heads are better than 1
Not arguing that doing a powerflush is a bloody hard job for a one-handed plumber though. Would not like to try tipping a 5-litre can of acid in the machine with one hand

 

[Happyplumber]

Yes Ben,I do fixed price for flushing so its irrelevant the amount of men on the job,I have very well trained apprentice into his third year now so makes the job alot easier.
Obviously once the job has started i can let him carry on whilst i pop out or he does and get on with the next task .All about using you time wisely to maxmise your profit margins,which at the end of the day is the bottom line

 

[bengasman]

It is irrelevant, as long as the price is not justified by counting two people, and the time is not cut in half.
Surely you have heard more than once from people who had the 12-rad-system "powerflushed" in a morning, and could not understand why they had a clogged up hex 2 years later.

 

[plumskull]

Removing a rad & banging on a machine with a pump not much stronger than the one already circulating the water in your heating system, pointless, don`t know where the word ``power`` came from, you might as well fart into your expansion tank. Powerflushing is pointless & useless, it doesn`t remove anything at all, if you don`t believe me, Powerflush a bad system till the water is beautiful & clear in your lovely machine. Then go and crack a valve at any rad furthest from the machine & watch the black sh*ite ooze out Bubba.
The only people making money out of this sham are the Inventor who must be p*issing in his pants, and ``British Gasp``. (That`s your reaction when they tell you how much they want for it ).

 

[bengasman]

Removing a rad & banging on a machine with a pump not much stronger than the one already circulating the water in your heating system, pointless, don`t know where the word ``power`` came from, you might as well fart into your expansion tank. Powerflushing is pointless & useless, it doesn`t remove anything at all,...

Interesting information; I suppose you have been a heating engineer for many years, and have a lot of experience in cleaning systems?

 

[plumskull]

Interesting information; I suppose you have been a heating engineer for many years, and have a lot of experience in cleaning systems?

Yup.

 

[bengasman]

Interesting information; I suppose you have been a heating engineer for many years, and have a lot of experience in cleaning systems?

Yup.

So what do you prefer, take 'em off and tipping?

 

[plumskull]

So what do you prefer, take 'em off and tipping?


What do you prefer? Flushing primaries with rads off, turn one rad on till overall heat then turn off, next one & so on as per Kamco training day? Don`t make me laugh, investigate & solve the problem, take `em off and tipping works when there is only one or two problem rads. Lets face it, how many sealed systems require a ``powerflush``

 

[bengasman]

Didn't notice you made that restriction, but to answer your question: on the whole at least 1 in every 10, and virtually every one where I replace the boiler.
Open vents? Probably about 1 in3.

To give you an idea: if I suspect sludge problems where the system "was already cleaned" and the client is hesitant, I offer free of charge if what comes out at the dump is not black.
So far never lost a penny.
If you just stick the pump on and reverse the flow a couple of times, you can't expect a lot of result.

 

[plumskull]

So far never lost a penny.

How do you Powerflush?