Your central heating wishes its water system to be processed
Your central heating wishes its water system to be processed
Manufacturers have made multiple products and services that you can add to your gas central heating system to help it to perform efficiently for a longer period of time. Irregardless of which you choose, you should take proper care of your heating system, only then can it perform efficiently. Environmental agencies and local authorities constantly advise us to economise our carbon footprint by switching off unneeded lights and electric devices and by setting our thermostats at lower temperatures. These environmentally conscious steps not only save the greenery on our planet, but also save the pound notes in our wallet. But, how will you make sure that your central heating system works efficiently? As the layers of gunk and limescale starts piling up, the efficiency of the system starts dwindling increasing your energy costs.
Whether your water is hard or soft can play a crucial role in the life of your central heating system and water treatment can help here – to extend the healthy working of your system with products such as Fernox.
Water treatment is a term used to cover many different ways of looking after your system. Many types of water treatment products such as scale reducers and inhibitors, magnetic and electronic anti-lime mechanisms, sludge destroyers, noise reducers and anti-freeze can be used for water treatment.
Living in the UK means that depending on whereabouts you are in the country, your water can range from hard to soft. Hard water exposes you to limescale — your kettle, shower head and taps being the most probable areas where you first notice limescale masses. These deposits decrease the cost-efficiency of your system which in turn increases your household bills. Just a small, thin layer of scale in your hot water cylinder can increase your fuel bills by as much as 40%. Limescale is nothing, but calcium deposits in your central heating system. These problems are not seen in areas that get soft water, however in case of any doubt one should always seek advice.
Most water treatments act by altering the molecular structure of the water and the particles therein and changing the way it behaves. Some will change one structure for another, others remove the offending structure and another will stop them from being able to make a solid leaving them in suspension.
There are chemical test kits which will measure the ph and chloride levels and also the iron and copper levels so that you can measure the probable corrosion potential and rate.
Remember that when two different metals are connected (for example- aluminium and brass), an anode and cathode polarity is created thus starting the process of corrosion; this is something that a competent technician should watch out for when installing your system. All gas connections must be made by a CORGI registered tradesperson.
If you plan ahead of time while having a new system assembled, you will be able to identify the water treatments you need and have some of them installed with your system. If you are upgrading your current system, you must cleanse your whole system before any water treatment chemicals are added.
Heating systems get their supply of water from the main water source of your household and many mechanisms can be connected to the main source to solve water issues, yet, you should keep in mind that water softening systems installed for your home are only meant to serve your household needs and will not help with the hard water problem affecting your central heating system. These solutions can make detergent and soaps to lather effortlessly, but they will not be able to help the heating system to work efficiently.
Corrosion, limescale and biological growth are the three things that you should be looking to limit or stop from occurring.
The first problem that you may have to face is corrosion, it can start as soon as the system is installed and filled with water. Corrosion causes gunk in the system which can restrict the circulation causing cold spots on your radiators. Pinholes can also appear in the radiator and if the problem is not sorted out in good time your boiler could start to make noises.
Limescale results from the presence of calcium and magnesium in water, hard water regions have these elements more than the rest of the country. Heat causes these minerals to precipitate and step by step encrust the inner lining of pipes, leading to blockage. Again, the symptom of this can be a heating system that makes noise.
The next problem to deal with is the biological growth. The growth enters the system through open tanks in certain types of heating system. Once in the system it breeds producing slime and gunk. In addition to the tank, they grow into the pipes and block them; thereby the efficiency of the system is further reduced.
Various forums and websites provide useful information on water treatment. Take some time to look through this. It is recommended that you begin with the producers of the various systems. You can find a list manufacturers and the popular items they carry in this site. Blogs are another great source of free advice and information or contact a supplier with any queries that you may have.
All the best with your treatment and let’s hope you can get your heating systems working as expeditiously as possible to save you some hard cash.