What is powerflushing?
A powerflush is a cleansing process that aims to remove any build up of sludge, rust or other debris from your central heating system.
Why do I need to powerflush my heating system?
Rust, dirt and debris from pipes turns into a mud like substance, that we refer to as ‘sludge’. Sludge will make your central heating system really inefficient as it stops the heat being transferred from the boiler into the heating system and from the radiators into your home, and can eventually cause a breakdown. Sludge can make your bills higher, your rooms colder and leave you with an unreliable system.
How would I know if my system needs flushing?
The main signs to look out for are:
• Cold areas on radiators e.g. at the bottom
• Radiators feel cold but pipes are hot
• Excessive noise from the boiler or pump
• Discoloured water when you bleed the radiators
• Heating is slow to warm up
• Some radiators struggle to heat up as well as others
• Boiler regularly shuts down and needs restarting
• No water escapes when you bleed a radiator
• Noisy radiators and or / boiler
• Small leaks in radiators.
What are the benefits of having a powerflush?
• Radiators will get hotter and heat up more quickly
• Your radiators and boiler will sound quieter
• Your system will become more energy efficient meaning cheaper energy bills
• There will be less chance of breakdown
• It will increase the life of your heating system.
Tests carried out by an independent laboratory found that the efficiency of the heating system, when it was flushed and correctly inhibited (based on a 3 bedroom home) resulted in a 6% improvement in efficiency in comparison with an old system that had not been properly treated.
How often should you need a powerflush?
If your system has been well installed and the system water correctly treated with corrosion inhibitor chemicals, you shouldn’t need to powerflush. Older systems that have had problems in the past could need powerflushing every 5-6 years.
I am having a new boiler installed – do I need to have the system powerflushed first?
The boiler manufacturer will only guarantee your new boiler if it has been fitted to a clean system. A system can be cleaned by running the boiler with cleaning chemicals, but a powerflushing pump can move significantly more sludge.
What is the process and how long will it take?
The whole process can last from 4-10 hours depending on how many radiators you have in your home. Our engineer will connect a pump to your central heating system which will push a special chemical through your pipes, radiators and boiler. The specially formulated chemical removes the scale, sludge and rust. The engineer will collect and remove any sludge, leaving you with little mess or disruption.
