How does Radiator Power Flushing work and how much does it cost to get it done?
High pressure water with a descaling chemical is pumped around the central heating system and cleans any blockages and removes sludge from the system. The average cost is around €450.
Power flushing is the fastest and most effective way to flush heating systems with minimal disruption and dismantling. It is the process which is used to clean heating systems using water at high velocity, but low pressure. It usually involves the addition into the system of powerful cleansing chemicals and mobilising agents. These chemicals and agents clean heating systems by removing flux, sludge and other debris which has collected in the heating system over the years.
Boiler manufacturers recommend that a heating system should be power flushed immediately before a new boiler is fitted to an existing system. Some manufacturers even make the boiler’s warranty conditional on this. When a new boiler is fitted, the system alterations and high efficiency of the new boiler can dislodge accumulated debris which has been in the system for years. This is why boiler manufacturers are reluctant to carry out warranty repairs where it is suspected that the fault has been caused by debris and sludge in the system. Only by power flushing can you be sure that a system really is clean to the standards demanded by modern high efficiency boilers and heat exchangers.
Radiators that are cold or partially cold are often this way because there is sludge trapped in them. The sludge tends to sink to the bottom of the radiator. This is why radiators can sometimes feel cold at the bottom and hot at the top. If the sludge is removed by power flushing, then the water is able to circulate around the whole radiator rather than just the top part of that radiator.
