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Radiators and the flushing there of


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As per the title. Been having issues with our new Eberspacher. I suspect the radiators are full of gunk and stuff. The header tank water turns black once it’s circulated a few times. And blocks the fine tolerances of the water pump on the boiler. This is the second time this has happened.

To avoid going to the next step of replacing the rads, what is the best way, in general, to flush the system.

To replace the rads I’m guessing the connections will be 20mm but I suspect the pipework will be, perhaps 2”. Early 90’s fitout. Are there adaptors to fit?

 

Any advice welcome.

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Sounds like someone has fitted an Eber to a gravity system. May well have had an Ellis gas boiler when new. I suspect you will need to take the whole system apart and flush each item with a good high flow hose in both directions. I fear the mucks not only in the radiators but may have settled out in the large bore pipes. Messy job I fear.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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29 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

As per the title. Been having issues with our new Eberspacher. I suspect the radiators are full of gunk and stuff. The header tank water turns black once it’s circulated a few times. And blocks the fine tolerances of the water pump on the boiler. This is the second time this has happened.

To avoid going to the next step of replacing the rads, what is the best way, in general, to flush the system.

To replace the rads I’m guessing the connections will be 20mm but I suspect the pipework will be, perhaps 2”. Early 90’s fitout. Are there adaptors to fit?

 

Any advice welcome.

Never seen 2" iron pipe on a narrowboat. Could it be 28mm (old 1" )  copper pipe with 15mm  ( old 1/2" )  to the rad valves?

 

Take every radiator off the boat and flush with a hose from both ends inverting the rad a few times as you flush.  Continue till clear.

 

To flush the pipes you need to block all the rad connections with the rad valves. Wash through opening the valves one at a time to wash out all the pipework.

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and possibly fit a maganclean style system

 

We had a new boiler fitted onto a 15 year old system last year - no flushing, just an empty, a fill with flushing chemicals and water, 4 hours of running with an external twin bottle magnetic cleaner via the fitting for the new inline system, and some use of a rubber mallet on the radiators.

 

One year later at the service only a small amount of crud in the magnetic trap.

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28 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Never seen 2" iron pipe on a narrowboat. Could it be 28mm (old 1" )  copper pipe with 15mm  ( old 1/2" )  to the rad valves?

 

Take every radiator off the boat and flush with a hose from both ends inverting the rad a few times as you flush.  Continue till clear.

 

To flush the pipes you need to block all the rad connections with the rad valves. Wash through opening the valves one at a time to wash out all the pipework.

I got the measurements wrong. 28mm or 1”. Copper pipes.

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  • 1 month later...

I don’t like to rush things. So here I am a month down the road and in the same situation.

 

In early March disposed of an ageing Alde Slimline and installed an Eberspacher. Work(ed) brilliantly until all the crud had decided to move about abit.

I’m toying around with replacing the rads, they are probably 31 years of age. 3 x 600 x 900. 22mm copper pipe. (Screwfix is my friend, so far). Not intending to replace pipework because of a couple of inaccessible locations.

I have attached a picture of rad connection. Is this just a bog standard connector or a reducer of some sort. My thoughts are if a reducer of some sort to fit the old rads, the new rads will be 22mm compatible. Am I correct. Hopefully not a reducer or anything else. Please don’t get too technical.

A stage further into this complicated mind of mine. Such an easy job for a practical plumber type of person. How much would be a ballpark cost? All rads down eone side of the boat.

0FA34F72-9EEC-415C-B339-58177C26ADAF.jpeg

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Radiators have a standard thread- 1/2" bsp iirc, so that brass fitting is 1/2" bsp male to 22mm compression.

You can reuse the existing fitting. Undo the compression nut on the right, ease the copper pipe out of the fitting, do the same the other end. Now you can lift the radiator off its brackets and remove. Unscrew the fittings from the radiator, and clean any traces of ptfe tape or sealant from the threads. Put a couple of wraps of ptfe tape around the thread, and screw into the new radiator. Hang new radiator. Ease copper pipes back into fittings and hand tighten the nuts. The pipes should now be held rigidly to the radiators. Tighten the nuts by about 1/4 turn. Job done.

This all assumes there is enough flexibility in the pipes to move them out of the way, and that the new radiator is the same dimensions as the old.

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2 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Radiators have a standard thread- 1/2" bsp iirc, so that brass fitting is 1/2" bsp male to 22mm compression.

You can reuse the existing fitting. Undo the compression nut on the right, ease the copper pipe out of the fitting, do the same the other end. Now you can lift the radiator off its brackets and remove. Unscrew the fittings from the radiator, and clean any traces of ptfe tape or sealant from the threads. Put a couple of wraps of ptfe tape around the thread, and screw into the new radiator. Hang new radiator. Ease copper pipes back into fittings and hand tighten the nuts. The pipes should now be held rigidly to the radiators. Tighten the nuts by about 1/4 turn. Job done.

This all assumes there is enough flexibility in the pipes to move them out of the way, and that the new radiator is the same dimensions as the old.

Thank you David. The best and  more sensible way would be to replace the lot. One of the main inaccessible part is behind the fridge. When I bought a new fridge eight years ago the worktops had to be raised by 1/2” for it to slide in. How clever am I. I then laid nice laminate flooring. Looks lovely. Can’t get the fridge out now. What a 1st class clot. Anyway, I need to check if there’s accessible joints either side of fridge and slide out old pipe and slide in new. Fiddly I know. 

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You dont want to hear this you tight old sod............BUT.............Stop peeing about and do it once and do it properly. Replace the pipework and the rads otherwise you will have ongoing problems. You know it, I know it and ya boat knows it ;)

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26 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

You dont want to hear this you tight old sod............BUT.............Stop peeing about and do it once and do it properly. Replace the pipework and the rads otherwise you will have ongoing problems. You know it, I know it and ya boat knows it ;)

Thanks for your valued advice. Do you know the way to Skipton by car?

  • Haha 1
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