powerflushing pipework only - a job for a competent diy-er? All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[chris_on_tour2002]

Power flushing again, I know that the general advice is to get a pro to do it, however we have just moved into a new house which needs a lot of work on a tight budget! I can hire the equipment for cheap, I have a good understanding of home plumbing and also:

- I am flushing the pipework only as all of the radiators have been removed to be replaced.

- the boiler is going to be replaced so no matter if it gets damaged (or is that a little naive...?)

I just want to clear out the pipes so I don't have to change it all when the new radiators and boiler goes in - very black water on drain down but all of the radiators were working fully before they were removed, although they were old and corroded on the outside, hence the need to replace. Also the valves are corroded and some were dripping once they had been turned so these need to go as well.

I feel reasonably confident that I could tackle this one as there are no radiators and the boiler is not an issue... any advice against?

thanks,

chris

[peter the plumber]

If you have no radiators why are you power flushing? I hope you have cap them all off?

I can’t see what you hope to archive with power flushing.

[CrazeUK]

Hi All,
I have jut moved into a 9 yr old 3 bed terraced house.

I was having a problem with kettling a few weeks ago.
I called a central heating engineer out last week. Withouyt checking the boiler, he immediatly said you have low hot water pressure, and sludge in the system.

I was advised by a cori registered plumber in the family, to empty the hot water system a few times which should help aleviate some of the symptoms.

I did this, and true to his word black water started pouring out.
I have done this a few times and now the water is clean.

Also when i whent into the loft i realised their was a thick skin of fungus growing over the water. Like a blancket, after emptying the boiler system this appeared to be getting sucked in. I cleaned this out and gave the tank a good wash.

This didnt solve the problem, however i did notice the boiler control was on max and that the handle had been broke, i turned this down, now i have no problems. with the CH.

Do i still need a powerflsuh, whcih will cost in excess of £500./

[chris_on_tour2002]

sorry, should have made my intentions a little clearer, i intend to put the radiators back on and use existing pipework so i just wanted to clear the black gunk from the pipes. in this case, do you still think that a power flush is unnecessary? i thought of just filling the system and draining down again, would that be sufficient?

[CrazeUK]

Well i am no plumber by any means, but all the black stuff cleaned out for me. I have water that looks almost like tap water.

I was advised to do it once a month for next few months, as things get pushed further down.

Also dont make my mistake, and check the refil tank (if you have one) first for any gunk. Give it a good clean. I was told not to use the chemical cleaners (even if they say noit chemical) because if you have any pitting or thinning of the pipes, this can help their deterioration.
(Not sure if that is good advice).

Saff

[peter the plumber]

The point of power flushing is to clean out the system without removing the radiators.

Power flushing is done at a much higher pressure to get in all the nooks and crannies of the system.

But you don’t need to use power flushing on just pipe work.

If you have removed the radiators, you can just clean out the system pipe work with a hose.

You just connect the hose to the system and leave it going for a while.


Crazeuk I hope you put some inhibitor in your heating system when you refilled the system?

[bonzo]

As you're going to be replacing the radiators a powerflush would be a waste of time as you'll be cleaning the rads only to throw them away.

When you put the new radiators on, introduce a chemical cleaner into the system and run the heating for a few hours. Then drain down. This should clean the pipework sufficiently. It'd be a good idea to do this whilst the old boiler is still in use to avoid clogging up a nice new boiler with the sediment.

Change boiler. Fill up with inhibitor in system.