Get a £20 massage gun with the foam ball end and use that to vibrate the radiator, cheap alternative if you don't have an SDS or the attachment is too expensive.
Although Iv done this job before i thought id ask the service engineer for a price for him to do it as I couldn’t be bothered but after a straight up quote of £200 I instantly decided to stop being lazy and I’m doing it myself at the week 👍 thankyou for the video mate.
Just realised from one of your comments that you're not in the trades and just a DIYer! Probably the most knowledgeable DIYer I've seen!! I have a few questions which may seem silly, so when you initially drain the system before adding x800 can you drain from any radiator? Would it be better to drain from one downstairs? And when it comes to flushing are you draining every radiator individually while the mains water is running and then moving to the next or is the draining occurring at only 1 radiator while you open each radiator one by one?
I wanted to ask if it is easy or difficult to install central heating as a beginner who has finished the 4 month school for hvac systems, where should we base ourselves
Thanks for an informative video. When you've treated with X800 for an hour on full heat, we have a drain point at one of the radiators. Should we just drain the whole system and then refill the whole system? Not sure how to 'blast' one radiator at a time - what is the sequence exactly - are you sending refill water to one radiator at a time, then draining system each time and closing off to do the next radiator, before finally refilling the whole system?
You need to flush the X800 out, just draining the system will still likely leave a lot of cleaner sat in the pipes. Easiest way is to turn all the radiators off at the lock shield or trv, then turn them on one by one, with the filling loop turned on max and a drain off open. The best way though is to take your filter off and put hoses onto the flow and return then flush from there using the hose pipe. If you haven’t got a filter though, you’d have to cut tees into the flow and return by your boiler.
If I drain down to remove cleaner, could I the refill system and drain down again. Would this remove all cleaner from rads and pipe work, rather than doing each rad individually? Thanks
Thanks, my boiler and magnacleanse filter are in my loft and not easy to get hosepipe up there. Can I do a mains flush using a hosepipe attached to a radiator. If so can you explain what I have to do. Sorry to be a pain, I appreciate you are probably v busy.
This is brilliant, thank you for taking the time to show it. I had a question if I may please. I recently had done exactly what you did in terms if flushing the system. We also replaced a 3 radiators. However, once the system was refilled, the boiler has now started making a loud banging/juddering noise. All the radiators were bled but the noise is still there. We bled the boiler pump but that did not help. We change the automated air vent in the boiler thinking that may have been faulty. However, that did not help either. Some have said it could be the heat exchanger but I am sceptical because the boiler was absolutely fine before the work to flush the system out was done. I am at a loss. I saw in your video that at the begging you turn all the motorised valves to manual. I don't think we did that. I'm not sure if that is why but really struggling. Could it be the expansion vessel in the boiler where it may have lost its charge whilst draining? Any thoughts would be most welcome?
Difficult to say without seeing the system, but id say likely to be air trapped causing the boiler to dry fire. I’d Let the pressure up higher to try shift the air. Turn the temperature right down on the boiler too so everything comes on but it won’t dry fire so much. Checking the expansion vessel charge is a good idea too. Thanks for watching!
Really like this idea, I was thinking of getting one of the drain cocks open all the time and flushing the water through. Would I still need to turn off the thermostat and lock on each radiator in turn, I pressume to keep pressure up in that single radiator to remove the gunk?
Thanks! Yep you’ll need to isolate all radiators and open one at a time to get a good blast through. You only need to close the valve on one side of the rad to turn it off though, no need to do both sides. Thanks for watching!
Hello, could I get a bit of advice? Green star junior with 8 rads. I have a kettling issue on the hotwater. Used fernox f3 and left it in for around four days with the boiler on for around an hour each day. Any more would make the house too hot at this time of year. I have concrete ground floor so the rads come down from above with two drain off valves. Hooked them up to hose pipes and let one drain off. One first then the other, then both. After a while, i opened the boiler mains filling loop to flush and then opened the bleed nipples to assist flow. . Did this for around an hour. However, i didn't close the valves on the rad next to the drain off valves, so may have only flushed the return???? TBH all I really wanted was to remove the fernox to prevent any future issues, not do a great job of flushing. If some fernox f3 residue remains, it won't do any long term damage? I have refilled, removed the air and turned the boiler on for half an hour. All rads heat up and seem hotter than before. Should i do it again, this time with the Lockshield closed by the drain off valves? Or can i just put some fernox inhibitor and noise reducer in and hope the kettling is sorted before getting a plumber in?
I’m sorry it’s difficult to say without seeing the system. It probably needs a more thorough flush first. If you’ve got a filter on the system, this should be an easy place to flush from. Thanks for watching!
You're plate heat exchanger is blocked. You must have a registered gas safe engineer rectify the problem. You are 100% not allowed to open or work on your boiler without the qualification.
I’ve got a combi boiler is the process the same by leaving the filler loop on and letting it get full whilst draining it? Do both lock-shield and trv need to be off or just the trv will be sufficient? Do you use just a normal drain off point for the water to just come out? I’ve only got one drain off point on a 15mm copper pipe by the front door will that work?
Yep same process with filling loop on and drain open. Only need to turn one rad valve off per rad, not necessary to turn off lock shield and trv. Yes your drain off will work. Thanks for watching!
Do you drain the system after finishing with the cleaning solution? You didn't specify but I'm assuming you would do this before adding the inhibitor unless I'm mistaken, please let me know.
Yes you effectively drain it all out when you do the flush. The idea is that you put the cleaner in, run the system hot for a while, that lifts all the dirt into a suspension. Then you flush with mains water, one radiator at a time to get all the cleaner and dirt out.
Despite having the ch system flushed when a new condensing boiler was installed I still need the pump on maximum speed to reach the required circulation for the boiler to function. Do you think using the x800 would help or do I need a powerflush?
Seems odd that you would need the pump on full just to get the circulation needed, you may have a blockage or pipes that have a lot of debris in them. You usually get the most build up in any bends just before the pump, you could try cutting out a short section of pipe to look, clean it out and solder it back in using slip couplers. If you haven’t got a magna clean, I’d fit one of those on the return before the boiler too. Thanks for watching!
Could I just add the inhibitor directly in to the magnaclean filter since I need to clean mine off anyway? let it pump around a bit then add whatever is left? Also, nice pipe work :)
Yep you can use your magnaclean as a dosing pot. If you don’t have a towel rad you can put a funnel in, using the magnaclean is a good alternative. Thank you! And thanks for watching!
At 8:22 you talk about flushing both the flow and return as opposed to just one- is there anywhere else I can find information about this? Does this only apply to the radiator which is being used to drain down the system? This is the only bit I'm unsure about in your otherwise very informative and helpful video. I'm dealing with a very clogged up central heating system so I want to get it cleaned up as well as possible and this seems rather relevant to flushing as effectively as possible, if you could extrapolate on this I would appreciate it- I've not seen this mentioned anywhere else. Thanks.
That was more unique to my system design where the filling loop is on the return and I was draining off the return, so I don’t want to just drain that half of the system, and ignore the flow side. It will depend where your fill and drainoffs are located. You essentially want the water to go up one way and come back the other to a drain, in order to flush the system out. Sorry if that wasn’t helpful!
Very difficult to say without a lot more information or seeing your system. Probably best to get a plumber round if you’re not able to work it out. Thanks for watching!
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759so mine is a vaillant ecotec combi boiler. W The radiators heat up fine but the hot water from the tap is not piping hot, but just luke warm. Does it sounds like the heat exchanger plate that has maybe scaled?
Having a professional carry out your flush is the best and safest option, yes, you MIGHT think you can do it, but, I bet you wouldn't be doing it properly. Some companies quote £100 per rad, which is ridiculous, but it is a costly job, ideally most system should take all day, which is labour, normally a flush cost between £500 -£600, but that's all time dependant. If you suddenly rupture a joint because of excess pressure, will you fix it?
Although i applaud you on one hand, i would NEVER advise anybody to mains flush their own heating system for various reasons, yes, you might have some money, but just how good of a job are you actually doing without knowing the full ins and out of a heating system, plus, without having somebody check your system could actually stand up to mains pressure, you could cause more problems than your solve, thus needing and engineer to repair anyway. Like i said, informative, but not recommended
@@dantheman1337 ok, what I should of said is make sure it'll hold up to the flow rate, which will undoubtedly be higher that what a heating pump can produce, and if say it's not much, then you wouldn't get a successful flush. However, if you have a microbored system, and as a homeowner decided to go this route, say you have 3bar of main water, believe me, even with a drain valve always open, you'll build up pressure in the system, especially at the furthest point, that even true to a system that's on 15mm. Again, always get somebody who's knows what they're doing to carry out this work, in the end, it could end up costing you waaaaay more in getting the system repaired and flushed properly once the home owner blows it up, also, if you do it yourself and cause big issues, i.e a leak that brings your ceiling down, I'm fairly confident your insurance wouldn't cover you for the damage that you have caused. Then again, you'd probably have a go at repairing all of that too just to save a few quid and to use that handy tool kit you got from B&Q 🤣
Very informative and practical, thank you.
Nice to see a young chap protecting his hearing! You don’t want to suffer when you are older like I do.
Thank you!!
Nice zoned system .. looks great.. better than most plumbers install
Good video!!
Get a £20 massage gun with the foam ball end and use that to vibrate the radiator, cheap alternative if you don't have an SDS or the attachment is too expensive.
Great idea, thanks!
Great Idea where from ?
@@darrenforward8277 I tried replying but my comment seems to have been deleted. Any massage gun with the ball end will do.
@@vman2kay hitachi ?
@@girlsdrinkfecknice.
Thank you for taking the time to make and share this video! 😊
Thanks for watching!
Appreciated the explanation of the different cleaning products.
Glad it was helpful!
Although Iv done this job before i thought id ask the service engineer for a price for him to do it as I couldn’t be bothered but after a straight up quote of £200 I instantly decided to stop being lazy and I’m doing it myself at the week 👍 thankyou for the video mate.
Just realised from one of your comments that you're not in the trades and just a DIYer! Probably the most knowledgeable DIYer I've seen!! I have a few questions which may seem silly, so when you initially drain the system before adding x800 can you drain from any radiator? Would it be better to drain from one downstairs? And when it comes to flushing are you draining every radiator individually while the mains water is running and then moving to the next or is the draining occurring at only 1 radiator while you open each radiator one by one?
👍 Some very good tips - thanks. 😊
Thanks Errol!
Great video. Thanks so much.
I wanted to ask if it is easy or difficult to install central heating as a beginner who has finished the 4 month school for hvac systems, where should we base ourselves
Depends on the complexity of the system and your skill set really
Thanks for an informative video. When you've treated with X800 for an hour on full heat, we have a drain point at one of the radiators. Should we just drain the whole system and then refill the whole system? Not sure how to 'blast' one radiator at a time - what is the sequence exactly - are you sending refill water to one radiator at a time, then draining system each time and closing off to do the next radiator, before finally refilling the whole system?
You need to flush the X800 out, just draining the system will still likely leave a lot of cleaner sat in the pipes. Easiest way is to turn all the radiators off at the lock shield or trv, then turn them on one by one, with the filling loop turned on max and a drain off open. The best way though is to take your filter off and put hoses onto the flow and return then flush from there using the hose pipe. If you haven’t got a filter though, you’d have to cut tees into the flow and return by your boiler.
If I drain down to remove cleaner, could I the refill system and drain down again. Would this remove all cleaner from rads and pipe work, rather than doing each rad individually? Thanks
Unlikely you’d get it all out in my opinion, you need the flush to get all the rubbish out of the system really
Thanks, my boiler and magnacleanse filter are in my loft and not easy to get hosepipe up there. Can I do a mains flush using a hosepipe attached to a radiator. If so can you explain what I have to do. Sorry to be a pain, I appreciate you are probably v busy.
This is brilliant, thank you for taking the time to show it. I had a question if I may please. I recently had done exactly what you did in terms if flushing the system. We also replaced a 3 radiators. However, once the system was refilled, the boiler has now started making a loud banging/juddering noise. All the radiators were bled but the noise is still there. We bled the boiler pump but that did not help. We change the automated air vent in the boiler thinking that may have been faulty. However, that did not help either. Some have said it could be the heat exchanger but I am sceptical because the boiler was absolutely fine before the work to flush the system out was done. I am at a loss. I saw in your video that at the begging you turn all the motorised valves to manual. I don't think we did that. I'm not sure if that is why but really struggling. Could it be the expansion vessel in the boiler where it may have lost its charge whilst draining? Any thoughts would be most welcome?
Difficult to say without seeing the system, but id say likely to be air trapped causing the boiler to dry fire. I’d Let the pressure up higher to try shift the air. Turn the temperature right down on the boiler too so everything comes on but it won’t dry fire so much.
Checking the expansion vessel charge is a good idea too.
Thanks for watching!
A brilliant video, helped me a lot. Could you do a video explaining how different central heating systems work ?
I have another video explaining how a system works. Thanks for watching!
So in general this is a fairly safe DIY method for someone to do at home?
Thank you for sharing this video I appreciate your time 🙏🏻
Thank you for watching, very appreciated!!
Really like this idea, I was thinking of getting one of the drain cocks open all the time and flushing the water through. Would I still need to turn off the thermostat and lock on each radiator in turn, I pressume to keep pressure up in that single radiator to remove the gunk?
Thanks! Yep you’ll need to isolate all radiators and open one at a time to get a good blast through. You only need to close the valve on one side of the rad to turn it off though, no need to do both sides. Thanks for watching!
Thanks, that is very informative; what spanner are you using? It seems a decent tool that makes an easy job of doing nuts.
Knipex plier wrench, i believe some are linked in the description
Hello, could I get a bit of advice? Green star junior with 8 rads.
I have a kettling issue on the hotwater. Used fernox f3 and left it in for around four days with the boiler on for around an hour each day. Any more would make the house too hot at this time of year. I have concrete ground floor so the rads come down from above with two drain off valves. Hooked them up to hose pipes and let one drain off. One first then the other, then both. After a while, i opened the boiler mains filling loop to flush and then opened the bleed nipples to assist flow. . Did this for around an hour.
However, i didn't close the valves on the rad next to the drain off valves, so may have only flushed the return???? TBH all I really wanted was to remove the fernox to prevent any future issues, not do a great job of flushing. If some fernox f3 residue remains, it won't do any long term damage?
I have refilled, removed the air and turned the boiler on for half an hour. All rads heat up and seem hotter than before.
Should i do it again, this time with the Lockshield closed by the drain off valves? Or can i just put some fernox inhibitor and noise reducer in and hope the kettling is sorted before getting a plumber in?
I’m sorry it’s difficult to say without seeing the system. It probably needs a more thorough flush first. If you’ve got a filter on the system, this should be an easy place to flush from. Thanks for watching!
You're plate heat exchanger is blocked. You must have a registered gas safe engineer rectify the problem. You are 100% not allowed to open or work on your boiler without the qualification.
I’ve got a combi boiler is the process the same by leaving the filler loop on and letting it get full whilst draining it? Do both lock-shield and trv need to be off or just the trv will be sufficient? Do you use just a normal drain off point for the water to just come out? I’ve only got one drain off point on a 15mm copper pipe by the front door will that work?
Yep same process with filling loop on and drain open. Only need to turn one rad valve off per rad, not necessary to turn off lock shield and trv. Yes your drain off will work. Thanks for watching!
Can this be done by pouring x800 into the magna clean filter and draining via the magna clean filter an hour after?
Yep you can use the magna clean as a filling point for the inhibitor and cleaner. You’ll still need to flush it out the system though
Do you drain the system after finishing with the cleaning solution? You didn't specify but I'm assuming you would do this before adding the inhibitor unless I'm mistaken, please let me know.
Yes you effectively drain it all out when you do the flush. The idea is that you put the cleaner in, run the system hot for a while, that lifts all the dirt into a suspension. Then you flush with mains water, one radiator at a time to get all the cleaner and dirt out.
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 cheers. Appreciate it.
Could this possibly help if there is a blockage in the heat exchanger?
Possibly!
@TheDiligentDIYer1759 thanks.. Will give it a shot
Despite having the ch system flushed when a new condensing boiler was installed I still need the pump on maximum speed to reach the required circulation for the boiler to function. Do you think using the x800 would help or do I need a powerflush?
Seems odd that you would need the pump on full just to get the circulation needed, you may have a blockage or pipes that have a lot of debris in them. You usually get the most build up in any bends just before the pump, you could try cutting out a short section of pipe to look, clean it out and solder it back in using slip couplers.
If you haven’t got a magna clean, I’d fit one of those on the return before the boiler too. Thanks for watching!
I have underfloor heating as well as numerous radiators upstairs and down. Does this complicate things when attempting a system flush?
You might need more cleaner as you have a lot more water, but the principles are the same. Thanks for watching!
@4:40: Magnacunz? What is the word you're saying? Great if you could add a link in the description.
Adey magnaclean, screwfix sell them. Thanks for watching!
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 Great. Found it. Thank you!
Just confirming - when you said you were going to close the lockshield on the drain off to allow water through the radiator…did you mean open it?
I actually can’t remember now, but if you’re doing this method you can work it out on the fly. Thanks for watching!
Fantastic video thank you!
Thanks for watching!!
How much x800 and x100 do you use? Do you just put full tub in?
There’s a dosage guidance on the tub. Thanks for watching!
Could I just add the inhibitor directly in to the magnaclean filter since I need to clean mine off anyway? let it pump around a bit then add whatever is left?
Also, nice pipe work :)
Yep you can use your magnaclean as a dosing pot. If you don’t have a towel rad you can put a funnel in, using the magnaclean is a good alternative. Thank you! And thanks for watching!
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 Cheers chap I'll sort that out tomorrow then. Have a great christmas :)
Thanks, you too!
What a nice system
Very kind of you to say so!
At 8:22 you talk about flushing both the flow and return as opposed to just one- is there anywhere else I can find information about this? Does this only apply to the radiator which is being used to drain down the system? This is the only bit I'm unsure about in your otherwise very informative and helpful video.
I'm dealing with a very clogged up central heating system so I want to get it cleaned up as well as possible and this seems rather relevant to flushing as effectively as possible, if you could extrapolate on this I would appreciate it- I've not seen this mentioned anywhere else. Thanks.
That was more unique to my system design where the filling loop is on the return and I was draining off the return, so I don’t want to just drain that half of the system, and ignore the flow side. It will depend where your fill and drainoffs are located. You essentially want the water to go up one way and come back the other to a drain, in order to flush the system out. Sorry if that wasn’t helpful!
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 I see, thanks!
Best yet 👍
Thank you!
My hot water is luke warm, what could be the cauad of this?
Very difficult to say without a lot more information or seeing your system. Probably best to get a plumber round if you’re not able to work it out. Thanks for watching!
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759so mine is a vaillant ecotec combi boiler. W
The radiators heat up fine but the hot water from the tap is not piping hot, but just luke warm. Does it sounds like the heat exchanger plate that has maybe scaled?
Yes you’re probably right or a broken sensor, either way I think it will be a job that needs a professional in unfortunately
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 thanks mate. Appreciate it. Keep the content coming!
Brilliant Vid ! Are you a plumber by trade ?
I’m not in the trade at all actually, just an over enthusiastic DIYer. Thanks for watching!
That spanner looks like terminators hand 😅
😂
X800 is not recommended unless you thoroughly flush out.
Agreed, but i do in this video. Thanks for watching!
Dare you to turn that pump valve off
No reason to - thanks for watching
Ive just had the gas people out, theyve quoted £850 to flush my radiators 😤
That is a fortune! Definitely a job that can be done DIY. Thanks for watching !
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 I got home and used the massage gun technique 👌 🥳
I hope you have knee pads in! We never wore them when we were younger but I'm struggling now after 50 years plumbing!
I've just had a quote of £880 for a flush. I will be doing my own 😮
Having a professional carry out your flush is the best and safest option, yes, you MIGHT think you can do it, but, I bet you wouldn't be doing it properly.
Some companies quote £100 per rad, which is ridiculous, but it is a costly job, ideally most system should take all day, which is labour, normally a flush cost between £500 -£600, but that's all time dependant.
If you suddenly rupture a joint because of excess pressure, will you fix it?
What the hell you got on your feet bro???
Crocs haha, they are my garden shoes, i wouldn’t wear them out the house. Thanks for watching!
@@TheDiligentDIYer1759 they send a shiver down my spine, have some self respect man!!! Canny vid
Although i applaud you on one hand, i would NEVER advise anybody to mains flush their own heating system for various reasons, yes, you might have some money, but just how good of a job are you actually doing without knowing the full ins and out of a heating system, plus, without having somebody check your system could actually stand up to mains pressure, you could cause more problems than your solve, thus needing and engineer to repair anyway.
Like i said, informative, but not recommended
Thanks for watching!
It isn't mains pressure because you leave the drain open at all times you introduce water via the filling loop. The pressure will read zero
@@dantheman1337 ok, what I should of said is make sure it'll hold up to the flow rate, which will undoubtedly be higher that what a heating pump can produce, and if say it's not much, then you wouldn't get a successful flush.
However, if you have a microbored system, and as a homeowner decided to go this route, say you have 3bar of main water, believe me, even with a drain valve always open, you'll build up pressure in the system, especially at the furthest point, that even true to a system that's on 15mm.
Again, always get somebody who's knows what they're doing to carry out this work, in the end, it could end up costing you waaaaay more in getting the system repaired and flushed properly once the home owner blows it up, also, if you do it yourself and cause big issues, i.e a leak that brings your ceiling down, I'm fairly confident your insurance wouldn't cover you for the damage that you have caused.
Then again, you'd probably have a go at repairing all of that too just to save a few quid and to use that handy tool kit you got from B&Q 🤣
only came to see the drainoff and its not there :P dislike button hit
That’s very kind of you, thank you….