Repair

Struggling with poor heating and radiators....

A power flush is a process carried out by central heating engineers designed to remove sludgy build-up in the boiler, pipes and radiators that make up your central heating system. A power flushing unit sends water through your central-heating system at high velocity to dislodge any build-up of sludge, rust and other debris.

When does my central heating system need a powerflush?

One or more of these symptoms could indicate that your central heating system would benefit from a powerflush:

• cold radiators with only a hot strip at the top

• black sludgy water in the heating system (shown by radiator removal or a failed heating pump or valve replacement)

• poor circulation to a system that used to work better

• a magnet attaching to copper pipe-work (signs of iron sludge within)

• an overflowing attic header tank (although this could also be caused by a pump being set at the wrong speed).

This helps to improve the efficiency and lifespan of the boiler and central heating system and prevent breakdowns. As with so many plumbing issues, regular maintenance (including power flushing) is the best way to keep your system in shape

A powerflush can be a good idea, if you're having a new boiler installed but have an old central heating system with old-style radiators. Your boiler engineer can carry out visual and chemical checks which indicate the PH balance and levels of corrosive elements in the system. These will determine whether a full powerflush is needed. Sometimes a ‘dynamic flush’, using clean mains pressure water, is all that's needed. It is a requirement with every new boiler installation that the system is thoroughly flushed, although not necessarily ‘powerflushed’

Is powerflushing always the solution to central-heating problems?

No. If there is a broken part in your boiler, or elsewhere in your central-heating system, power flushing will not fix it. Power flushing can improve the efficiency of your system and keep it running effectively but it cannot mend valves that have broken as a result of sludge in the system, for example.

Equally, power flushing is not the solution to pressure loss. That usually indicates a leak in the system – again this may have occurred due to inefficient running, but the power flushing will not solve the problem by itself.

Power flushing works best if it is carried out regularly from when a system is new. If you have an older boiler and system (if it’s 15 years old or more) then power flushing might not work for you. In this case, it’d be more cost-effective to look at replacing the boiler, radiators and maybe some of the pipework, rather than trying to improve a failing system.

Because power flushing pushes water around your central-heating system at high speed, it can increase pressure on any areas of weakness, such as rusting radiators. If there are any underlying weaknesses, it can lead to leaks.

Your central-heating engineer should be able to evaluate whether power flushing is the best option for your system

Will power flushing remove all the sludge in my central-heating system?

No. It will remove a good proportion of it, but it cannot remove all the sludge in the system. If your system is very old or very-heavily silted up, then power flushing may not be sufficient to remedy the problem.

If you have a gas combi-boiler, then you may want to ask your engineer to remove the hot water heat exchanger, flush that separately on both sides as well, to remove any limescale build up, before refitting it into the combi-boiler.

Power flushing can be expensive solution to your heating/radiator problems and may not be suitable for your system. If the system is old it may be beneficial to add a magnetic system filter to the system instead. Click & watch ADEY Magnaclean Professional2 - How it works.

Power flushing can bring your heating system warm again. Click & watch ADEY MagnaCleanse system flush - how it works.

ProHeatUK are fantastic! When booking their services you are met with friendly people who are very informative and arrange appointments around your own schedule. Their engineers are extremely knowledgeable and are great at explaining everything so that someone like me can understand! I can’t recommend this company enough, it’s great to know my central heating system is cared for by such reliable and trusting people. Thank you so much!

Kerrie Marie

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