Power Flush Help

[panglagar]

I am under home care contract with BG for my heating and electrical maintenance. Last year my loft tank (hotwater) started to overflow. The BG Engineer with his so called latest equipment diagnosed the problem as sludge and recommended power flush. I contacted a local plumber who adjusted the float valve and overflow stopped. But he did not want to comment on BG's observation. I did not have problems with hot water or heating of radiators. The only problem is when I switch on the hot water, radiators do not get heated. So I lived with this problem. Again, few days ago, hot water tank started to overflow. The BG engineer diagnosed it as a sludge and suggested either to go for a Combi that would save me £350 or do the power flush for £750. I would be grateful if some one could suggest me an independent technician in TW18 area for a second opinion. I am not a DIY person to try it for myself.

[buildersmate]

Power flush is a relatively expensive solution that BG just loves to sell its customers. There are other ways of removing sludge. This has been covered so many times before on this forum.

[gucciman]

hmmmm when you say the tank is overflowing do you mean the ball valve is not shutting off or is hot water spraying out of the open vent back into the tank?

if it is sludge then i would expect the same problems when you run the heating as well as the hot water. and if it is the ball valve not shutting off then thats mains cold water filling the tank so it can't be sludge anyway.

i don't know what plan system you have but if the rads aren't getting heated when your heating the water there may be a problem with the diverter or zone valve.

you should be able to find an independant engineer who would powerflush for around £400 although as builders mate says you dont HAVE to have a powerflush, a chemical flush may suffice.

[gucciman]

oh i almost forgot, dont let B.G.talk you into a new boiler, they charge double what anyone else does !

[alavahalf]

Around 4 years ago BG frightened my 88 year old neighbour into a new boiler...her old boiler was working perfectly...
Boiler only installed.....no rads......1 day to fit.....£3600

My brother-in-law bought exactly the same boiler off the internet ....including next day delivery....... £680.

That was one hell of a fitting charge....almost 3 grand..!

[panglagar]

Thank you for all the kind answers. I forgot to mention that BG engineer did some adjustment with the Overhead tank's ball valve and overflow has stopped. . But is not a permanent solution. From his equipment he could pinpoint the pipe measuring about a meter near the boiler that has affected due to sludge.My radiators are working, so I was wondering why bother about power flush. Like someone said in earlier posts, there was no power flush system some 10-15 years ago. In fact my house not very old, built in early 2000.

[gucciman]

if the ball valve was causing the problem it can't be sludge in the system as the ball valve is fed from the cold mains water supply.

unless your rads arent getting hot evenly across the whole panel or your boilers not bubbling and jumping off the wall or repeatedly cutting out before the rads get hot then i would say you dont have a problem.

as a preventitive measure you could have a cheaper chemical flush. you could add some sludge remover, run it for a week, drain and flush the system and then re-fill and add some inhibitor to prevent sludge build up.

[milliezoe]

As a heating engineer I would say go for a combi you will have your money back in two years and lower fuel bills too ,Gat an independant Gas Safe engineer to fit it do not use BG rip off merchants !!!!!!!!