Flushing the central heating system
Flushing the central heating system
At some point in the life of your fully pumped gas heating system you will wish to clean it. To exchange the central heating boiler or a heating radiator is a standard cause. Normally this function will be performed by your heating engineer but in some circumstances it can be performed by the experienced maintenance handyman.
In most circumstances Cleaning the central heating is executed to clean the heating radiators. Switching off the central heating boiler and heating pump should be the first actions you take. To enable the system to entirely clear you will need to guarantee that no water is getting in the gas heating system.
The header or expansion cylinder in the attic is used to normally top up the system with water. The rate of flow of water in the expansion cylinder is governed by use of a common ball-valve. This ball valve is a ball attached to an arm that, when elevated closes the valve, which means when the water tank is full no more water can arrive as the valve is shut. If water level falls the ball, floating on the surface, also falls opening the valve and allowing more water into the heating system. This process will need to be stopped if the central heating system is to be fully drained. To prevent any more water entering the valve needs to be off.
When all these precautions have been executed, you should attach a hosepipe to the part of your heating radiator known as the outlet and run the end of the hose pipe outside. The water from your metal radiator will rate of flow through the hose pipe and out of your metal radiator system. To flush your whole gas central heating system you need to attach this hosepipe to one of the ground floor metal radiators, the lowest ones in the house. Before you begin any other work on this gas central heating system you must now ensure that all the water has emptied out and no other the water is entering into the heating radiators.
The process can be hurried up by opening the bleed valves in the top floor heating radiators. When the water is emptied off you are clear to work on your heating radiator.