Hi thanks for your input, I've just counted the number of rads and we've got 20. They are not all the same size in fact some are tiny, so by rad count it appears BG are offering me a better deal but I'm still not convinced it's something which would need doing in a house which is only 5 years old? It was the way without even looking into the boiler or carrying out a water sample the man from BG jumped straight to the conclusion that a build up of sludge was to blame and a Power Flush was the soultion? Just seemed to smack or finding something to charge me for, he even had the leaflets handy in his pocket. I don't doubt the benefit of a Power Flush when required but surely these would for the most part be older boilers and systems? Anyone else have thoughts on the subject? I'm also keen to hear peoples opinion on the other thing the BG man said about plastic pipes being more of a problem than copper and saying even if I had the Power Flush the guarantee wouldn't apply becasue of the plastic pipes? Thanks.

Hi, this is an amazing site with clearly some great contributors and I'd be grateful to have an opinion from some of the posters regarding my boiler problems? We purchased a new house in 2004 and it came with a new Keston C40 boiler. We've got three stories and the rads on the top floor have never really got as hot as the ones on the ground and first floor. Just over two years ago the heat exchanger failed, all the seals had corroded and I called BG who replaced the part which with labour came to about £800!!! As a result I took out a homecare 400 plan. 18 months ago the fan failed and in fairness this was replaced without cost. The boiler stopped working again last night and BG came today and said the heat exchanger had failed agian! The BG man (without taking the boiler apart) said that this was almost certainly due to a build up of sludge and blamed it on the fact that when the house was built the rads were fitted with plastic pipes (this is more relevant in a bit) and that having the heat exchanger replaced again was one thing but I would require a 'Power Flush' at the cost of around £750 which is of course not covered by my policy to prevent this happening again!!! He then went on to say that if I didn't have the Power Flush that my HomeCare policy would no longer cover me as he had advised it and I'd failed to act, he then explained that even if I did have the Power Flush the supossed lifetime guarantee that comes with it would not be applied to my property because we have plastic piping in the house and not copper? The BG man also suggested I have a MagnaClean fitted instead of or as well as the Power Flush again at my cost, another £250! I have a few questions I'd love an experts opinion on - 1) Do I really need a Power Flush and or MagnaClean at a combined cost of £1,000 and how could the BG man tell without taking the boiler apart!!!!!!?????? 2) Is plastic piping really inferior to copper and could it be as the BG man suggested the route casue of the suspected sludging up? (which has yet to be proved as the boiler hasn't even been dismantled yet). 3) Is it common place for two heat exchangers to fail in such a short space of time? Could the second heat exchanger failure be down to a poorly fitted replacement, or am I clutching at straws? 4) As the boiler has never really worked that well does anyone else have experience of a similar boiler and problems? Thank you in advance for any help or assistance offered.