DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

I have heard of clip-on magnets, and powered magnetic coils, that are claimed to de-scale domestic plumbing, including boilers. Is there any chance of clearing sludge from central-heating radiator piping using the best of these?---- I am quite prepared to fit new radiators and isolator valves, to speed-up the process, as only 3 radiators are giving trouble.

Hi, sounds like you may be better to have the system powerflushed, get a price for this then look at the cost of replacing ALL the system, ie radiators, pipes, boiler ect.
Hope this helps. :)

A powerflush costs £467 inc VAT, but as my piping is 10-year-old small-bore plastic, I am told the problem will recurr. An eddy-current unit costs £130 and is DIY-fit, costing just 10 pence/week in electricity. Re-piping in modern Hep2o barrier-pipe, pulled thro' the existing routes costs a Grand! Add £500 for copper due to ripping-up floor-boards. I could limit the hep2o job to the lines from the upstairs manifolds to/from the ground-floor radiators, and add an eddy-current unit to prevent a recurrence of ground-floor problems. I have no problems with boiler/pump/diverterV/upstairs heating/indirect cylinder/programmer/thermostats;---- just 3 out of 5 down-stairs radiators. Five weeks of circulating system-cleaner has been a wasted effort. It will take months to get attention from any plumber in this area, so a small job seems unlikely to get any takers at all, hence my interest in the eddy-current unit, being DIY.
My cousin had a system installed for £3500 last year, and the firm turned-up 6 months later than promised!

Hi, Well all I can say about the person who told you that you will need the powerflush again is incorrect IF you use a reptuable firm you should find that you should have no more problembs for years, especialy if the water in the system is checked every year for its concentration and if kept correct it should not return, even if you change everything and do not have the system cleaned then correct concentration of inhibitor in it it will return?
as for the eddy-current unit, not heared of that one I thought it was for testing pipes for flaws? I have heared of the magniflow but that only removes magntite from the water it will not remove deposits in the radiators without further help, IE powerflushing.
Sorry for such a long reply.
Hope this helps

The 2 local firms, and one professional on this forum, said it would return because the old type of plastic used 10 years ago, breathes air in thro' the tube-wall molecular structure, despite being water-tight;-- then the air promotes growth of algae, a mucky mid-brown colour;-- I have seen it in the header in the loft-- looks like cumberland sausage;-- only one downstairs radiator was affected then, so I renewed it.
I also had 2 dripping isolator valves to renew at the same time, so they could have been air-suckers, and a pump-valve nut was dripping, and got nipped tight.
At the moment the brown stuff in the header has not formed sausages, but coats the walls to about 2 cms-- soft squishy stuff. I have a few weeping isolator valves to seal-- ptfe tape may do it.