Good evening all ....


Can anyone recommend from experience, a good central heating system sludge remover



Many thanks

Sentinel X400 to clean the system and then Sentinel X100 to protect the system going forward

[Edited on 9/12/20 by perksy]

And if you can, fit a magnetic filter.
I suspect most proper branded sludge remover/cleansers will be similarly effective. I have some magnaclean stuff to chuck in a system I am responsible for, will fit a mag filter too as goodness knows how old the system is, I know the boiler is 20+ years old, I had it put in. But until it goes properly wrong it is staying!

I did this earlier in the year, as we had one radiator 15 meters from the boiler, that was cold, and the biggest rad in the house, in the lounge (thers a thread on this somewhere here)

Firstly before sticking any cleaner in the the system, i had run my central heating system, severel times, and flushed out from the lowest point, and in my house it was the garage, i did this about 5 times, and wow, the shyte that came out !!

Once i could flush cleanish water out, i put the cleaner in Senitel ? and left it in for well over a week, nearer two weeks, actually
Once the system had settled , i put the cleaner in, and let it run for a good couple of weeks, and flushed it all out again, and it was well shyty !!
I actually ran the cleaner twice over a period of about 6 weeks, and then put some preventative is, again Senital, and so far this year its been fine

The Rad that didnt work, was because a TRV had failed in the off position, not sure how or why, so when the system was drained, i changed both ends and added a drain cock to one off them, and got black sludge out of the rad, it was so thick you could actually hold the stuff !!

Its because all of us on this site, have a little bit of Knowledge about mechanical things we can adapt to central heating problems

steve

Depends how dirty the system is but x800 is good but you should only leave it in for a few hours as it can damage pumps/motorised valves etc

With any cleaner the key is making sure you get it all out before you do your final fill and inhibit, and dont buy the cheap homebrand stuff stick with a reputable brand like sentinel or furnox

Neighbour told me about a trick a heating engine used to use. Fit a hose pipe to a feed and find the furthest place from it, then turn the hose on, work your way round turning all radiators off then one by one turning them on. The idea being the water pressure flushes the crud out.

My concern is the water going the 'wrong' way to the header tank and over flowing it.

Thanks to you for the replies and suggestions.... it's much appreciated



There is a Furnox F1 omega filter fitted to the system ..... Boiler seems to run ok .... with no funny noises etc ,
but there is 1 particular radiator that quite warm at the top and centre, but cool at the bottom.... looked online,
and it seems likely to be a build up of sludge.



Drained some water from the filter assembly, which was really dirty, with a lot of sediment in it ... so thinking I'll fill
flush and drain a couple of times and then use 1 of the cleaners to really give it a good clean ....
another flush, fill and bleed, and include some inhibitor to keep it in reasonable condition.

Assuming the radiator has valves at both ends, why not shut them off, drain the radiator (by releasing the nut if there is no drain valve) and take it outside to give it a good flush - or even replace it with a new one.

[Edited on 10/12/20 by SteveWalker]

Back in the day with my dad we discovered a coin fitted inside the nut used to hold the pipe to the radiator. Two spare nuts with coin fitted ready and a bit of rubber or card as a washer. Lock of valves, info one at once, lots of rags ready, quickly fit replacement nut. You could then remove the (bloody heavy) radiator without draining and wouldn't spoil dirty water in the house.

quote:

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Originally posted by MikeR
Back in the day with my dad we discovered a coin fitted inside the nut used to hold the pipe to the radiator. Two spare nuts with coin fitted ready and a bit of rubber or card as a washer. Lock of valves, info one at once, lots of rags ready, quickly fit replacement nut. You could then remove the (bloody heavy) radiator without draining and wouldn't spoil dirty water in the house.

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"a TRV had failed in the off position, not sure how or why,"

I have had a few that have done that. The pin sticks with a bit of corrosion. I've fixed them by pulling the head off to expose the pin then soaked it in WD40 and used thin nose pliers to free the pin. once it moves push it in and out until it returns to open by itself.

Hi all ......

Have already removed the troublesome radiator flushed, reverse flushed, and inverted flushed etc .......
fetched loads of dirty coloured water and fine debris out of it ..... and refitted bled etc , tested again, and there
was a definite improvement ..... not perfect by any means, but going the right way.


For a couple of the following nights,I've bled more debris from the filter assembly......
and it's getting more even in the overall temperature output, and much fewer cold spots


Plan another couple of flushes, descaler , flush and finally add inhibitor.....
then that should be the end of it !!

Leave it a couple of days, with the heating on, and then re flush, refill use the heating, flush repeat etc, also bleed all the rads and dont forget the hot water system.

Keep doing this until the water that comes out on a flush is looking like drinking water, i check this buy putting the drain hose into a bucket
and once the water looks clear in the bucket, stop the flush, refill, and start again, !!

I then put the cleaner in, and repeat over the next few days

If a rad is cold at the bottom, but hot at the top, you have crud in that rad, and thats exactly what i had, but its all good now, but took a good few weeks to get there

steve

All understood Steve .... Will give it a try ......

thanks for the update ... and to all you other lads
for sharing your knowledge !!
- a big thumbs up