itsallwater wrote:
I've just had the Boiler Man over to service my pipes 
Anyway he recommended (because I have old pipes) installing one of these type devices.... anyone have one? Do they actually help?
Anyway he recommended (because I have old pipes) installing one of these type devices.... anyone have one? Do they actually help?
Yes they are pretty good imo, I used to install them all the time when I was fitting boilers, they are simple and effective at capturing the Magnetite.
Bamba wrote:
The last time I cleaned ours out there was quite a lot of horrible black shite stuck to it which makes it at least appear effective, but whether that stuff would do any real harm if left to roam our heating system I've utterly no idea. It's actually a really long time since I did that so I should probably do it again just to see how bad it is now. Related: we should probably get the thing serviced since it hasn't been for a couple of years!
The black shite s the magnetite and if left in the system can gradualy build up and reduce the pipe diameter, it can get to the point of causing complete blocks if some breaks loose and wedges further down.
Grim... wrote:
Doesn't opening the system up allow the water to re-oxygenate, thus creating more rust?
Or was that just someone talking rubbish?
Or was that just someone talking rubbish?
Aye you don't want lots of fresh water going into your system adding oxygen as that does increase corrosion. This however is pretty nifty as you have a shut off valve on the inlet and outlet of it so you are only removing around a liter of water so not much to top up at all. The magnet is in a plastic sheath so you remove it and just rinse the magnetite out, the slightly more expensive model has and wire filter in it which also needs rinsing but supposedly will catch more of the crap.
The heating system should definitely have Inhibitor in it anyhow so such a small amount of oxygen added in when you top the system off (if it even needs it) is a minor issue, it will just generate some more magnetite which will be caught by the magnet for cleaning next time, but you don't want this crap building up in your systems.
If you have a older heating system and you notice cold spots on you radiators in the lower middle of the rads it is more than likely magnetite building up and stopping the water circulating.
You are basically loosing a great big chunk of your heating efficiency, your possibly not getting the heat into the rooms as you need so turn the heating up higher and use more fuel.
To sort this out the best first stem is to add a chemical cleansor to the heating system and run it as normal for a few weeks, the chemicals clean the inside of the pipe in a fairly gentle fashion and hold the magnetite in suspension, after a month flush the whole system out and run fresh water through until it runs clear, fill back up and ADD INHIBITOR. Unless the problem is really bad this is the best and cheapest 1st step (£15 fr the chemicals plus labor, very easy to do yourself if you are feeling confident in your man skills).
British Gas and some other companies will jump straight to step 2 (As it is a great little earner for them) and recommend a power flush. This is because it is a chargeable service not covered in their insurance. The prices I have heard BG has quote for it varies greatly but £1000 is not uncommon. A Power flush is when you connect a big pump that looks like a Dalek in place of the boiler and pump chemicals around the system very vigorously.
This can be a very good treatment for a system if it really needs it, however some of the old systems that really need it have been known to develop leaks after due to it having been the magnetite stopping the leak
This isn't so much of a issue with newer pressurized heating systems but has been known to get bad on some.
