Magnaclean on Combi Boiler Fail

[spiritof'76]

I fitted a new Combi Boiler for a customer some 6 months ago......... system was previously open vented with conventional heat only boiler and cylinder.

Manual chemical flush carried out as per normal etc etc....... some time later called back as hot water temp fluctuating so removed secondary plate heat exchanger to find flakes of presumably corroded rad partially blocking the waterway.

A shame but not entirely surprising so fits Magnaclean on heating return below boiler...... that should sort it methinks

But no, 6 to 8 weeks later i'm back there to the same problem Remove hear exchanger again and there they are...... the same bloody flakes of rust

........and what's in the Magnaclean ? Just small covering on the magnet of a very fine metallic sludge So the larger flakes that are blocking the heat exchanger must clearly be passing through the Magnaclean without being caught

Now i think about it i've never opened up a Magnaclean and found any larger particles attached to the magnet...... the flakes removed from the exchanger are definately metal as i've held them to the magnet.

Anybody else had experience of these Magnacleans 'not' doing what they are supposed to do ?

[Gingerbread Man]

Cleaned one out before, you're right though, only a fine silt if it were. Maybe fit a strainer to see if you can catch any particles before they get into the boiler. Would more accessible.

[spiritof'76]

Pretty disappointed with the product to be honest ........... i suspect i'm going to be called back to this job again to clear the exchanger, and i can't really charge for it as i've charged to fit a device that's supposed to cure the problem

Just looking at the Fernox TF1 version of this idea and that says it gets non metallic stuff too....... so maybe that has some sort of a gauze strainer in it ? Will have to investigate

No more Magnacleans for me

[johnthegas]

Use the Twintech version mate - that never fails! and use it with a decent chemical.
John.

[spiritof'76]

johnthegas said:

Use the Twintech version mate - that never fails! and use it with a decent chemical.
John.

What does that do different ?

[Ricky_M]

Did you powerflush it or fill and drain with a chemical cleaner?

[Chrisgr31]

I am not a heating man or plumber, however would it be worth flushing through the system again? Might be a pain in the bum but if there are bits flaking off might be better to flush them out as in the long run it will be better than lots of return trips where you cant charge.

Oh and are the flakes really coming from the radiator? Have they had the heating on?

[spiritof'76]

Ricky_M said:

Did you powerflush it or fill and drain with a chemical cleaner?

Fill and drain with chemical cleaner

[jason s4]

Magnacleans are designed to filer out particles, not chunks.

A proper flush of the system and a new rad sounds like a plan.

[spiritof'76]

Chrisgr31 said:

I am not a heating man or plumber, however would it be worth flushing through the system again? Might be a pain in the bum but if there are bits flaking off might be better to flush them out as in the long run it will be better than lots of return trips where you cant charge.

Oh and are the flakes really coming from the radiator? Have they had the heating on?

Can't see that flakes would be coming from anywhere other than the inside of the rads.......... so yes, you're right i'm not expecting the problem to re-occur until the heating season starts again and there is circulation through the rads.

Have to say, i'm one of those who doesn't have much faith in Powerflushing

Have worked on systems that have been powerflushed and although certainly improved there can still be significant crud in the system

For that reason i won't bother to invest in the equipment........... though i have carried out Powerflushing back in the days when i was a BG engineer........ i believe they were the first to do this procedure. It was the prices they charged that led everyone to jump on the bandwagon lol

[Hereward]

My heating engineer put a new system in for me and fitted a Spirotech Spirovent. Said he didn't rate Magnaclean.