Central heating cleaner/which one

cubix

Would appreciate views on which central heating cleaner to put into system. Was in H/merchant and they do their own 500ml for about €18, fernox and sentinel are about another €10.
Would also be interested in knowing what devices (bought or made) for getting your cleaner into the system where it is a sealed system.

Thanks

mxwelder

The problem with cleaning your heating system is that for it to be done properly it must be drained down and refilled at least twice. The rads have to be taken off the wall, taken outside and half filled, shook about and emptied to take the "dirt" out of them. Then once you have them put back on the walls the system must be refilled and flushed through again and this obviously involves a bit more time than people think and it can also mean flushing through the system more than once.
This is a two man/woman job that has to be done right and not by just putting some "miracle chemical cleaner" recommended by a desk jockey in a hardware store or by some "plummer" saying it only takes a few hours and then charging 250euro + just to do that.
Please be wary of "quick"fixes.

Buford T Justice

I've used the Heatmerchants own brand, and it was fine. I had no problems with it.

The last post is a huge amount of work to do for someone that isn't a plumber. If your remove all you're rads then you'll need to re-balance them again afterwards.

If you want the system cleaned properly, then get it powerflushed by a plumber and ask them to add the inhibitor while they're at it.
You can get tundishes that will fit into the bleed screw on some rads to add the inhibitor, but you need to release the pressure from the system and partially drain it first.

Sparkpea

tundishes at a high point like an automatic airvent, even if you cut the bottom off a 500ml bottle of water or something and turn it upside down its a ready made tundish.

I used sentinel for years and think its fantastic - my wholesaler doesnt sell it anymore so I'm using fernox f3 cleaner now.

Either way, get the system cleaned properly, get it powerflushed.