LEEDS PLUMBER - POWERFLUSH - Flushing Central Heating

First of all, I'm going to show you a clip to some power flushing and then we'll have a little chat about that. I'll talk about Magnacleanse, I'll talk about chemical flushes, I'll talk about mains flushes. And if you could, please add some comments below. That'd be really helpful. It helps the video as well. Thank you.

A power flush or power flushing. So power flushing is normally the best type of flush that you can do. It's not always needed. You don't always need to do a full power flush, it really does depend on the system. Obviously, if the water looks like this, then you know that it's going to need a full system power flush. The most important thing that you're trying to do is, you're trying to make the system clean. Now, I know that might sound obvious, but a power flush is not the be-all and end-all. The important thing is no matter what you do, no matter which flush you do, that the system is clean afterwards.

I have done a detailed video on how to do a power flush and I'll just show you a picture of it there. If you want to search for that after this video, and then you can watch that video as well. But what we're trying to do with a power flush is, obviously we're trying to get the muck out of the system, but what we're doing is we're connecting a machine on and we're connecting onto the flow and onto the return of the heating system, and then we're going to put chemicals around the system.

So what we'd do, we would put chemicals in, or what I do, I normally put, I would open all the radiators on the system. I'd put the chemicals in, whatever that might be, X800, or F5, or MC3, or whatever chemicals that you're using. And then leave that to run around the system for at least, at the very, very least one hour. Ideally, if you can, if you could put it in a few days before and let the customer run the heating, then that would be even better. And what you're going to do then, is once you have run it round the system for at least an hour, maybe a couple of hours if you can. And then what you want to do is, you want to turn all the radiators off apart from maybe two radiators, and then see which ones in the house are the least performing, or the ones that are not working very well, and turn all the rest of the radiators in the house off.

Now, what you can do as well is, you could drain the system fully, so you've got all the water out of the system first. And then, when you've put your chemicals in, you've left air in the top of the radiator, and then as it's trying to flush, the chemicals will only go round, or they will try and go around the bottom of the radiator. So they try and go through the sludge in the system, and that's what you want, that's what you want it to do. So as I said then, what you're doing is you're leaving one radiator fully open, and then often I leave a second one open just in case there's a bit of restriction, and you don't want hoses to blow off, because that can make a right mess if that happens.

So then, it's just a time thing then. So you need to go round the radiators one at a time, open a radiator, turn one off, open one, turn one off. When I've always making sure there's one fully open all the time so that there's no restriction in the system. And you can also, with your power flush machine, you can turn the flow the other your way round. So it's got a lever on the power flush machine so you can change the direction of flow. So as I say, if you click up here, if you have a look and search for that video there, it'll give you a bit more of a detailed power flush. And if you've got any questions, please ask them below.

And now what we'll do, we'll have a look at the Magnacleanse and what the difference is with a Magnacleanse. A Magnacleanse is a magnetic filter that you connect into the heating

[jonofham]

Just finished installing 7 out of 9 new rads on a new combi ready for the winter. I have now run F3 through them for a day (old rads were grim...installer obviously didn't flush them through as the boiler was only installed in May), carried out a mains flush through the system filter (Ideal/Fernox) and topped back up with F1 inhibitor. Feeling well chuffed with myself! Your videos are brilliant Allen, keep it up.

[appleiphone]

Top bloke! Hard to find genuine folk these days

[williamkerr]

Thank you so much for all your posts.
My boiler was losing pressure and I had to "top it up" every month. The plumber said that my boiler was faulty, but I did what you said and checked all the rads and pipework for signs of leaking.
Guess what "Bingo" found a small leak on my dining room rad, sorted that and no more top-up needed.
Many thanks again for saving me lots of time and money.

[Gearz]

Hello Allen
Thanks for all your interesting and informative video posts. I'm a believer in a cold mains system flush as part of CH maintenance.For my home system, I've run the ends of the 15 mm flow and return rad in our utility room through the wall, via
a pair of isolation valves, then fitted them with red(flow) and blue(return) washing machine taps with male thread. Connect a pair of washing machine hoses, one to the outside tap and one to drain, and there you have a permanent, external flushing system . I drain off via an angled white bowl to catch and check the sediment, before the overflow spills down the drain. When not in use, a pair of screw on caps keep the outside taps protected. It's also great for draining down after a chemical cleanse. I like to isolate the boiler and run clean water through the rads one at a time, starting with the furthest away and finishing with the nearest. I do have a Spirotech on the return by the boiler, but I find the outside connections so convenient. My combi is an old ( 16th year) Halstead 82, so I think your emphasis on the importance of mains flushing, for system cleanliness, is right on the money for good boiler lifespan. Keep up the good work.

[CoolMusicToMyEars]

Hi Allen ive just performed a mains flush on each individual radiator, then clean water came out eventually, wasn't thick black sludge because F1 was added13 years ago, I've then put in Fernox F3 into a clean system, going to leave that in for a week, then mains flush whilst tapping bottom of radiators with a 450g white hammer, see if there's anything else if there is, then I get as much out might add Fernox F8 their top cleaner & repeat the process again, I noticed two things No noise in pump area on boiler & all my radiators are getting a lot warmer 👍so I turned down the flow temperature to 50°C still very warm & so the flow temperature is 45°C, hot water is very much improved now thats been reduced from 55°C to 45°C, its Never been flushed in 13 Year's WoW what a massive difference, I expect the running costs to be very reduced, Im a retired Aerospace Defence Verificatiom Qualification Test Engineer, mainly Electronics but we get into life testing with temperature chambers with vibration, I have a Viessmann 200W B2B 35kW Combination 9 radiators 2 bathrooms,
Allen Im sure very pleased with the detailed information from yourself much appreciated 👍 living in an apartment it was something that I could no longer ignore when energy bills were going through the roof & especially my daughter's bedroom wasn't getting that warm, but now yes >well over 22°C can be reached at low settings on the radiators 👍,
The Viessmann 200W B2B is serviced by Viessmann every year, so combination of a system mains flush is fantastic, I'm so very pleased with the results, next afterwards finally flush out and add Fernox F1, then add Temperature control digital interface radiator valves in bedrooms, as when children are out at school no need to ramp up to maximum, I have to eventually ballance radiators after I fit an energy saving pump Viessmann recommend Grundfos unit, probably fit a new automatic air valve & new Diverter valve at the same time, then relax for a few years, I know you like the Viessmann 200W 😮Combination Boilers the engineering on them is totally superb, I should know I'm a test engineer,
Allen I cannot thank you enough great instructions 👍
I said to my friend he's got same problem I want to do that for free & show him the massive difference it can make wonderful now im sitting in comfort without need of a jacket on apartments can be cold opem 3 walls to outside !
Kindest regards Philip & family ❤❤❤❤

[theyoungchevalier]

Love the instructional videos Allen, always concise, accurate and informative and well delivered....keep em coming.

[alastairchestnutt]

Helpful information about mains flush.

[MrPaddlepower]

Thank you Alan big heart for your video's.

[gulammangerah]

Thank you Allen for the good content 👍

[keithbrueton]

Thank you Allen for the good content once again top work buddy . MOT

[tommyblackman]

Good video Allen, I agree powerflush is not always needed. Ive has customers saying/thinking power-flushing will unblock pipes and radiators.
Always customers resort to power flushing once the system is to badly blocked. I spend time unblocking pipes and radiators etc... what goats me the most is they don’t wanna pay the going rate lol

[fiskrond]

Allen, even though I don't feel confident enough to do things myself I now understand roughly enough to know if a plumber is trying to 'up-sell' me as it were.. 👍

[andybutler]

Thank you sir for the explanations, I had a plumber visit recently and charged me for a power flush but he never connected anything to the system or drained anything, just chucked some chemicals in it and then buggered off ending up with me having to buy a new boiler

[lewissmith]

Great video thank you. Very informative! 👍

[fueltoblaze]

That was a really helpful video, thankyou liked and subbed!

[servermughull]

Thanks Allan alway professional advice thanks keep it up

[simonelson]

Allen maybe I misunderstood but a little contradictory.
Watched the flushing video first and I'm fairly sure that you said to isolate the boiler from system prior to flushing to protect it!
Is that correct or to do it the way mentioned here.

Excuse me if I misunderstood

[jasonmiller]

Really informative video Allen. Theres so much confusion about what a power/powder/chemical etc flush is and you cleared them all up nicely, thank you. One question, when you add inhibitor can you mix makes? eg if you service a boiler and top up the inhibitor do you need to know what's in there already or can you add fernox to a sentinel product?

[SalimKhan-gkfh]

Excellent video Allen, that first clip you showed with the grey bucket the water was black as hell !😞

[servermughull]

Maybe you could advise on how to get air lock out on pipes especially system with a combination boiler thanks I had a problem that upstairs rads were hot downstairs nothing at all accept one rad