Servicing a magnaclean without supplied tool

Uhtred

Uhtred

Uhtred

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
6,372
Location
Bedfordshire
I have a magnaclean professional 2 installed which is due for a clean. I've checked youtube and it looks like an easy job except the chap who installed it must have taken the supplied plastic spanner to loosen the top cap with him.

I can order a replacement for ££ but I wondered if it's really necessary and whether I can release and tighten it by hand. It's quite wide ~100mm and my grips can't quite get all the way around.
 
Close off the valves at the back. Open the bleed screw at the top to release the pressure inside. This will make it a lot easier to undo. Place a bowl underneath and open the plug at the base, drain the water out.

Now you can either try to unscrew the lid in situ, or remove the magnaclean entirely from the push fit connectors which will give you more grasp on the top, to do that unscrew the round wheel at the back and pull the plastic arm it's connected to towards you to engage the lip of the push fit release mechanism and pull off.
 
Yes I think that's the way forward, I'll remove the unit completely which is desirable anyway and replace the lid before putting it back.

I'll soon know if I haven't done it tight enough :D

Thanks for the reply, I'll give it a go at the weekend.
 
If you have some strong string -make a loop to go round top and put a big nail up through the loop and twist to tighten up then try to undo - Mine isn't that tight when I clean mine - I do have the spanner though.
Also you could use a car oil filter strap or chain
 
Turns out this was really easy to do without the tool. I loosened and tightened by hand without issue.

However the quick release didn't work at all, I just couldn't get the unit off. I was probably not pulling hard enough but I was worried about damaging something.

Anyway, I cleaned the core and removed a year's worth of gunk. We've had the system flushed and replaced the radiators so I'm hoping next time I service it there won't be as much in there

https://imgur.com/a/gqZfQfY
 
Uhtred said:
Anyway, I cleaned the core and removed a year's worth of gunk. We've had the system flushed and replaced the radiators so I'm hoping next time I service it there won't be as much in there

https://imgur.com/a/gqZfQfY
Click to expand...

Wow, never seen anywhere close to that much on mine, normally just a thin film. I would dose the system with Sentinel X800 cleaner in your case. Remember to add a dose of inhibitor when you've flushed it out and topped back up.
 
norm said:
Wow, never seen anywhere close to that much on mine, normally just a thin film. I would dose the system with Sentinel X800 cleaner in your case. Remember to add a dose of inhibitor when you've flushed it out and topped back up.
Click to expand...

Yep it was quite something. We got the boiler replaced last December but the chap went awol before we could get him to replace the circa 70s rads which is probably where most of the gunk came from.

We finally found someone else to do the radiators a couple of months ago and he used fernox f3 followed by f1.

I'm going to open the magnaclean up again in a few weeks to clean it again and replace the o-ring.
 
Uhtred said:
I'm going to open the magnaclean up again in a few weeks to clean it again and replace the o-ring.
Click to expand...

The thing is if you are getting that much magnetite something is actively corroding, or the system hasn't been fully flushed of sediment. Either way running X800 through it is the way to go it's very effective and only takes 90 minutes to work.
 
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