I often hear that I need to clean the floor heating pipes, but due to my frequent moves in recent years, I have never had the opportunity to clean them. Recently, I saw netizens sharing their cleanup experience, which is not only remarkable but also refreshing. Finally, the house I live in now is in its fourth year, and I have a chance to clean it up. So, yesterday, two workers came to my house to clean the floor heating pipes, charging 45 yuan per circuit, and my house has a total of four circuits, totaling 180 yuan. However, to my surprise, the scene of mud coming out of the pipes that I had expected did not happen. On the contrary, the water that comes out of the rinse is water. What does this mean? A joke in which the worker explains everything: "You have been wronged with this money." "It turned out that the pipes were not dirty, and even if they were cleaned, it did not really help to raise the heating temperature. There is no sediment in my house's floor heating pipes, so when do they need to be cleaned?
Workers were embarrassed by this "ineffective" clean-up and offered three more ways to increase the heating temperature. I'm going to share it with you below.
Frequency of underfloor heating pipe cleaning
First of all, I searched for the keyword "how often to clean floor heating pipes" on the Internet, and the answer I got was to clean it once every 1~2 years. However, this answer turned out to be clearly wrong, as my house had been heated for three periods and there was no need for cleaning. Workers of floor heating cleaning equipment also said that the frequency of cleaning floor heating pipes should not be as rigid as said on the Internet. It is only necessary to increase the frequency of cleaning when there are three situations:
The local tap water has a TDS value of more than 200 ppm, which can produce a lot of limescale and easily clog pipes.
Heating water temperatures above 50°C can lead to an increase in limescale. Generally, the water temperature for collective heating or wall-hung furnace heating will exceed 50°C.
Sediment is deposited in the pipes of the homes of residents on the lowest floors of collective heating. In the case where the upper echelons are zoned pressurized, there will be multiple "lowest tiers".
The standard cleaning frequency is once every 6 years, and every time one of the above situations occurs, the cleaning frequency needs to be shortened by 1~2 years. My family didn't encounter these three situations, so the worker advised me: "Cleaning every 6 years is enough." ”
Three tips for keeping you warm
In addition to the frequency of cleaning, the worker also shared with me three ways to "keep warm", whether you clean the floor heating or not, and you should do it every year.
1. Anti-clogging – close the valve
After cleaning the floor heating, the worker called me and said that he had forgotten to tell me something: he had closed all the valves on my manifold and asked me to turn it on after the heating started. Since it is a group heating, it is usually started at 0:00 midnight. The worker advised me to sleep peacefully that night and open the valve when I woke up the next morning. The purpose of this is to prevent sediment from entering the underfloor heating pipes. In the summer, heating pipes are left unused and large amounts of dirt such as sediment, limescale and rust accumulate in them. When heating is first done in winter, the heating water will flush these dirty things into the user's home. The purpose of closing the valve is to keep the dirt out. Wait until the heating water has been circulated once in the heating company, pump room, and user's home before turning it on, and then the pipes will be much cleaner.
2. Filter – Don't ignore it
The heating has two filters, one at home, right at the inlet of the water divider. Open the trap and you'll see a valve that slopes downwards, and if you remove it, you'll see a metal mesh (very simple, you can do it yourself). The other filter is in the well in the hallway, my well is locked by the property, so the worker can't clean it for me, but he told me that I can call the heating company after heating, and they will help clean the filter for free. When the filter is clogged, the heating water cannot flow in, and the temperature in the home cannot rise. What's more, dirt from the filter can rush into your home and cause the heating pipes to become clogged. Workers suggested that the two filters be cleaned every year.
3. Anti-air blockage — the role of a small valve
There is a special phenomenon called "gas blockage" in the heating pipe, that is, because the heating water pressure is not enough, resulting in a section of gas in the pipe. Where there is gas, there is no water, which will inevitably affect the temperature of the heating. The solution to this problem is "deflating": there is a small valve at the top of the water separator or radiator that can be opened to vent the air out. When the exhaust is completely over and all that comes out is water, it's over. On the radiator, deflation one by one, and on the separator, open each circuit one by one (remember to close the previous circuit when opening the next circuit) until all the circuits are exhausted. The two downward-facing "mouths" on the far left are the vents. After the gas blockage problem is solved, the heating can supply heat normally.
Although cleaning the floor heating pipes this time did not achieve the effect I expected, I learned a lot of small knowledge about heating through the suggestions of the workers, and I hope these sharing will be helpful to everyone.