Has anybody installed a MagnaClean?

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2004
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4,201
Location
Middlesex, London
Hi guys,

So I have been recommended to instll one off these on the central heating system

I have ordered one and just wanted to know what's involved?

Do you have to drain the whole central heating system to install? Or can you just drain the boiler?

Thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2009
Posts
5,278
Drain the lot. You have to cut into the CH return line just before the boiler. Works well, Surprised me just how much crap accumulates even in our new CH system, All new rads and speedfit pipework.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Jan 2003
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2,945
Location
Derbyshire
Drain your system, cut into the return pipe under the boiler, fit the filter, add cleaner, drain and flush once the cleaner has done is job, wash the muck from filter then add plenty of inhibitor
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
I just had a new boiler with a magnaclean at the same time. I was sceptical as it seemed like a waste of money but i was talked into it. All i can say is an utter wow at it, since it went in on saturday it has almost totally filled with brown sludge twice over - utterly amazing to think that all that sludge would be in there had i not had it fitted :eek:
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
One thing to note for anyone buying one as i was last week, they are literally just a fitting with a very strong magnet inside them.

As such buy the cheapest you can find, i noticed some of them were extremely expensive. The cheapest i found was screwfix for a flomaster item at about £60, the quality of it appears to be absolutely fine and my plumber had nothing bad to say about it.
 
Associate
Joined
23 Dec 2004
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218
Are they easy to clean? Mine's been in since the plumber installed my new boiler last year, and I haven't touched it yet.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
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18 Oct 2002
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33,073
Yep just unscrew the top and withdraw the magnet assembly covered in sludge. Just make sure that depending on location there is no head of water above it :p
 
Associate
Joined
24 Jan 2005
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295
Location
North Yorkshire
Got one here, for the money I think it is a good idea to have one fitted. First couple of runs complete black sludge. 18 months later every 3 months or so not as much sludge but still a fair amount of 'stuff' collected.
 
Caporegime
Joined
11 Mar 2005
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32,197
Location
Leafy Cheshire
Yep just unscrew the top and withdraw the magnet assembly covered in sludge. Just make sure that depending on location there is no head of water above it :p

A good one (most i've seen) will allow you to isolate the filter from the system whilst you clean it.

As for cheapness, depending on your system, it's worth getting one with a fill point.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
Thinking about it this one has valves both sides anyway to shut it off (im sure they all do but it makes draining the loop a non issue) :)
 
Soldato
Joined
18 May 2004
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2,858
Location
Lincoln, Uk
Thinking about it this one has valves both sides anyway to shut it off (im sure they all do but it makes draining the loop a non issue) :)

They should all have, otherwise cleaning the filter would be a right PITA.

A trick is with the valves off, the magnet removed and the muck drained into a bucket.... is to crack one of the valves slightly, the system presure will then wash any remaining muck in the filter into the bucket :)
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2013
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6,597
Location
Shropshire
My Magnaclean came with two plastic spanners - one for top and other to turn off two stop taps on the housing.

It's a 5min job to clean it - turn off -unscrew top -pull out magnet - slide plastic sleeve off -wash and reassemble. - open taps then open bleed nipple on top and done.

I only clean mine once a year - the day before the guy comes to service boiler and so far I have only had a thin film of black on plastic sleeve
 
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