Get quotes to powerflush a central heating system

HaMuch is Excellent
By Emily Rivers
Last updated 12th August 2022

If you have noticed that your radiators take a long time to heat up, or are riddled with cold spots then it might be time for your central heating system to be powerflushed.

Common symptoms of needing a powerflush include;

  • Noisey banging boiler called “kettling”
  • Boiler cutting out due to slow circulation
  • Cold spots at the bottom of a radiator clogged up from sludge
  • Cold spots at the top of a radiator from air
  • Radiators very slow to heat or stone cold from blocked circulation
  • Hot water in taps from a combi boiler fluctuating from hot to cold

What is powerflushing?

Powerflushing is the use of chemicals and high flow rate to break down the build-up of rust debris, also known as black sludge, and penetrate through stubborn blockages in the central heating system. Powerflushing involves using a powerflush machine. This machine has a high flow rate and is able to reverse the flow of the system, to push the water in both directions to really force out stubborn debris. 

This vigorous flow coupled with the chemicals can remove the iron oxide sludge debris out of the pipework and radiators. The powerflush engineer will also create a back and forth motion of water with his machine to agitate the inside of the pipework to help loosen any build-up of sludge (they may also agitate the outside of the radiators depending on the fragility of the system). Where some people think that fitting a magnet filter near the boiler to catch debris is enough, this will only catch loose debris travelling around the system with the flow of water but will not remove any build-up of sludge trapped in radiators or pipework, only the power flush will do that.

Cost to powerflush a central heating system

Why do British Gas say I need a power flush?

If you have a homecare agreement with British Gas and they maintain your boiler, before British Gas replaces any parts on the central heating system, they want the new part being plumbed into a clean sludge-free system to avoid the new part being destroyed by debris. This is why British Gas usually insists on a powerflush before they replace parts. The good news is even when on a British Gas service contract, check with them but you are usually completely in your rights to shop around for the best quote and get the powerflush completed by someone else, as long as you have an invoice or some form of documentation to prove that you have paid for a powerflush on your central heating system.

System flush vs power flush vs chemical flush

Sometimes it can get tricky understanding what it is that your system requires to get it back to optimal working performance. Especially when tradespeople might use different jargon to advise on the same course of action. 

If a heating engineer has told you to get a system flush and you got a second opinion from another heating engineer mentioning a power flush… yes, they are both referring to the same chemical clean.

A power flush, also referred to as a system flush or a system power flush, just means cleaning out the entire central heating circuit with the use of the powerflush machine and chemicals. Do not bother with doing a partial flush, paying someone to come in and not flush out all of the radiators because once the circuit is back on in winter, the sludge debris that was sitting in a different part of pipework will just contaminate the cleaned out radiators.

When told you need a chemical flush, best to get clarity from the gas engineer, are they referring to a powerflush, or are they meaning using chemicals to dose the system, travel around by turning the heating on, and then draining down the system. This can work if the system is not badly blocked. If you are already paying out a lot of money, then best to just do a more intense version with better results and powerflush. There is no draining down for a powerflush, but rather keeping the system pressurised and pushing out the dirty water while constantly topping up with clean water, this way is to prevent any further blockages in elbows of pipework that draining down can cause.

How much will it cost to powerflush?

The total cost of the powerflush can be from a man-in-van offering to do it for just a few hours labour and the cost of hiring a powerflushing machine (from £300) to paying a specialised company, who own the equipment and more familiar with different scenarios they may come across on different heating systems (from £400). Most often, a powerflush is completed in a day. Smaller systems require just half of the day. Time taken to powerflush will depend on how often the engineer carries out a powerflush, as someone hiring the equipment and not too familiar or confident with its operating, may take longer than someone who does this daily.

Other factors affecting the cost are;

  • how many floors are involved in your property as some companies will charge per floor
  • how many radiators / towel rails / loops of underfloor heating are in the home
  • what size pump you might have (large homes might run on a commercial sized pump)
  • If the system requires a first visit of a pre-treatment of the cleaning chemicals before the day of power flushing

How much labour costs to power flush

Per

Average total labour cost

Powerflush 7 radiators

Per day

£400 

Powerflush 12 radiators

Per day

£560 

Pre-treat a blocked system and then powerflush 10 radiators

Per day

£620

Powerflush 12 radiators and change a circulatory pump

Per day

£660

Is my system too old to powerflush?

A big concern is whether a system is too old to handle a powerflush or if the powerflush will result in leaks, with high pressure bursting through old pipework. As long as your central heating system has water running through the boiler, and a circuit of pipework, it is suitable to be powerflushed.

Powerflush cleaner chemicals are mostly non-acidic therefore are safe and do not cause any damage to copper or plastic pipes (there is an acid option for a more vigorous clean and heating engineers will then neutralise the system with neutralising crystals afterwards but if your system is fragile they will not use this option).

A boiler, for safety reasons, is designed to handle water pressure of up to 4.5 bar. The maximum pressure of a power flushing pump will never exceed much more than 2 bar of pressure, therefore it is not putting the central heating system under any unnecessary stress. Worst case, is removing the sludge, the sludge might be eating its way through radiators and the debris acting as a cork, so once the debris has been removed, this may expose existing pin-holes in radiators. These would eventually become apparent, with or without a powerflush, as eventually the rust eating through would be too big a hole to ‘self-seal’.

How often should I get a powerflush?

It is suggested that a powerflush is carried out on a system every 5 - 6 years. This will prolong the life of the boiler. During this time span, it means that any build up of sludge that starts after an initial powerflush will be flushed out again to avoid solid blockages forming over the years. 

A powerflush is also needed when a new boiler is being installed. A new boiler’s components, like a heat exchanger, diverter valve, pump… will be protected by not having  sludge debris running through the boiler. If a brand new boiler is installed into a dirty system, within two years you might need to replace a burnt-out pump or damaged heat exchanger, ruined from sludge.

Systems that are prone to debris, perhaps badly plumbed in pipework that draws in air, microbore systems where the pipework is so thin that it only takes a tiny bit of debris to block the system or single pipe systems where there is no real control of where to send the chemical water during the powerflush but more on only where the system will allow the flow, these types of systems may need a powerflush more frequently than standard systems to maintain the boilers and keep heat reaching radiators. Microbore systems can be effectively powerflushed but might just need a bit more attention and time of the day from the heating engineer carrying out the flush. For best results with microbore, single pipe or badly blocked systems is to actually put the chemical cleaner in a few weeks before the intended powerflush to really give the chemicals a chance to circulate and start breaking down debris blockages.

However often your system is powerflushed, it is good practice to yearly top the system up with a corrosion inhibitor. This will not prevent corrosion but will slow down the pace of it re-building.


Estimates for common heating engineer jobs;

Rates for other trades

Powerflush cost in the UK
Powerflush cost in the UK (excluding VAT or callout charges)
Location in UKPowerflush cost
Powerflush near Aberdeen£568
Powerflush near Amber Valley£482
Powerflush near Angus£540
Powerflush near Arun£548
Powerflush near Ashfield£476
Powerflush near Aylesbury Vale£566
Powerflush near Barnsley£474
Powerflush near Basildon£524
Powerflush near Basingstoke & Deane£560
Powerflush near Bassetlaw£490
Powerflush near Bath & North East Somerset£530
Powerflush near Bedford£572
Powerflush near Belfast£448
Powerflush near Birmingham£476
Powerflush near Blackburn£464
Powerflush near Blackpool£494
Powerflush near Bolton£494
Powerflush near Bournemouth£552
Powerflush near Bracknell Forest£584
Powerflush near Bradford£472
Powerflush near Braintree£520
Powerflush near Breckland£484
Powerflush near Bridgend£458
Powerflush near Brighton£536
Powerflush near Bristol£518
Powerflush near Broadland£532
Powerflush near Broxtowe£474
Powerflush near Bury£488
Powerflush near Caerphilly£456
Powerflush near Calderdale£456
Powerflush near Cambridge£562
Powerflush near Canterbury£504
Powerflush near Cardiff£466
Powerflush near Carmarthenshire£400
Powerflush near Charnwood£456
Powerflush near Chelmsford£518
Powerflush near Cheltenham£614
Powerflush near Cherwell£576
Powerflush near Chester£454
Powerflush near Colchester£516
Powerflush near Conway£418
Powerflush near Coventry£474
Powerflush near Crewe & Nantwich£478
Powerflush near Dacorum£568
Powerflush near Derby£452
Powerflush near Doncaster£486
Powerflush near Dover£470
Powerflush near Dudley£478
Powerflush near Dumfries & Galloway£506
Powerflush near Dundee£544
Powerflush near East Ayrshire£418
Powerflush near East Devon£490
Powerflush near East Dunbartonshire£564
Powerflush near East Hampshire£548
Powerflush near East Hertfordshire£564
Powerflush near East Lindsey£446
Powerflush near East Riding£390
Powerflush near Eastleigh£560
Powerflush near Edinburgh£534
Powerflush near Elmbridge£586
Powerflush near Epping Forest£588
Powerflush near Erewash£458
Powerflush near Exeter£508
Powerflush near Falkirk£552
Powerflush near Fife£536
Powerflush near Flintshire£452
Powerflush near Gateshead£520
Powerflush near Gedling£468
Powerflush near Glasgow£554
Powerflush near Gloucester£634
Powerflush near Guildford£590
Powerflush near Gwynedd£448
Powerflush near Halton£482
Powerflush near Harrogate£462
Powerflush near Havant & Waterloo£530
Powerflush near Highland£640
Powerflush near Horsham£544
Powerflush near Huntingdonshire£558
Powerflush near Ipswich£626
Powerflush near Isle of Wight£526
Powerflush near Kings Lynn & West Norfolk£520
Powerflush near Kingston-upon-Hull£392
Powerflush near Kirklees£464
Powerflush near Knowsley£476
Powerflush near Lancaster£526
Powerflush near Leeds£466
Powerflush near Leicester£458
Powerflush near Lisburn£444
Powerflush near Liverpool£474
Powerflush near London£582
Powerflush near Luton£576
Powerflush near Macclesfield£488
Powerflush near Maidstone£518
Powerflush near Manchester£484
Powerflush near Mid Bedfordshire£562
Powerflush near Mid Sussex£558
Powerflush near Middlesbrough£500
Powerflush near Milton Keynes£568
Powerflush near Neath Port Talbot£474
Powerflush near New Forest£550
Powerflush near Newbury£558
Powerflush near Newcastle-under-Lyme£458
Powerflush near Newcastle-upon-Tyne£522
Powerflush near Newport£470
Powerflush near North Ayrshire£454
Powerflush near North East Lincolnshire£490
Powerflush near North Hertfordshire£566
Powerflush near North Lanarkshire£558
Powerflush near North Lincolnshire£446
Powerflush near North Somerset£508
Powerflush near North Tyneside£516
Powerflush near North Wiltshire£612
Powerflush near Northampton£554
Powerflush near Norwich£522
Powerflush near Nottingham£460
Powerflush near Nuneaton & Bedworth£468
Powerflush near Oldham£488
Powerflush near Oxford£578
Powerflush near Pembrokeshire£402
Powerflush near Perth & Kinross£542
Powerflush near Peterborough£570
Powerflush near Plymouth£492
Powerflush near Poole£550
Powerflush near Portsmouth£528
Powerflush near Powys£600
Powerflush near Preston£484
Powerflush near Reading£594
Powerflush near Redcar & Cleveland£490
Powerflush near Reigate & Banstead£580
Powerflush near Renfrewshire£546
Powerflush near Rhondda, Cynon, Taff£450
Powerflush near Rochdale£490
Powerflush near Rochester-upon-Medway£560
Powerflush near Rotherham£476
Powerflush near Salford£484
Powerflush near Salisbury£510
Powerflush near Sandwell£474
Powerflush near Scarborough£528
Powerflush near Scottish Borders£760
Powerflush near Sefton£480
Powerflush near Sevenoaks£542
Powerflush near Sheffield£482
Powerflush near Slough£586
Powerflush near Solihull£476
Powerflush near South Ayrshire£458
Powerflush near South Bedfordshire£572
Powerflush near South Cambridgeshire£542
Powerflush near South Gloucestershire£522
Powerflush near South Kesteven£540
Powerflush near South Lanarkshire£532
Powerflush near South Oxfordshire£578
Powerflush near South Somerset£524
Powerflush near South Tyneside£518
Powerflush near Southampton£554
Powerflush near Southend-on-Sea£506
Powerflush near St Albans£584
Powerflush near St Helens£474
Powerflush near Stafford£486
Powerflush near Stockport£492
Powerflush near Stockton-on-Tees£500
Powerflush near Stoke-on-Trent£458
Powerflush near Stratford-on-Avon£498
Powerflush near Stroud£580
Powerflush near Suffolk Coastal£666
Powerflush near Sunderland£518
Powerflush near Swale£498
Powerflush near Swansea£460
Powerflush near Tameside£486
Powerflush near Teignbridge£500
Powerflush near Tendring£586
Powerflush near Test Valley£534
Powerflush near Thamesdown£620
Powerflush near Thanet£524
Powerflush near The Wrekin£500
Powerflush near Thurrock£532
Powerflush near Torbay£496
Powerflush near Trafford£494
Powerflush near Vale of Glamorgan£464
Powerflush near Vale of White Horse£590
Powerflush near Vale Royal£448
Powerflush near Wakefield£476
Powerflush near Walsall£476
Powerflush near Warrington£494
Powerflush near Warwick£484
Powerflush near Waveney£506
Powerflush near Waverley£574
Powerflush near Wealden£538
Powerflush near West Lancashire£480
Powerflush near West Lothian£562
Powerflush near West Wiltshire£612
Powerflush near Wigan£480
Powerflush near Windsor & Maidenhead£584
Powerflush near Wirral£470
Powerflush near Wokingham£584
Powerflush near Wolverhampton£478
Powerflush near Wrexham Maelor£528
Powerflush near Wychavon£528
Powerflush near Wycombe£602
Powerflush near York£456