Your boiler economy is impacted by where you are
Your boiler economy is impacted by where you are
Nowadays a typical house is fitted with dozens of automatic appliances and systems to provide householders with a convenient life. Any household system, be it a refrigerator or television set or electrical wiring, will function better and more economically if it is well serviced. Our Government and environmental activists have been telling us to switch off lights, turn televisions completely off instead of leaving them on standby, and lower the temperature of our washing machines as well us the thermostats of our rooms. All the above enlisted ways effectively save energy, protect the environment and bring down the electricity bill. But how about making your central heating system operate more effectively? The accumulation of gunk and limescale deposits in your central heating system will reduce its efficiency.
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 looks after your system in more than one way. Many types of water treatment products such as scale reducers and inhibitors, magnetic and electronic anti-lime mechanisms, gunk 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. If you are living in hard water region, then you will be more susceptible to limescale attacks; you can notice deposits in your kettle, tap and shower head. Limescale not only reduces the efficiency of your system, but also increases your heating bills. Your fuel bills can increase by forty percent even with small deposits of limescale in your cylinder. When calcium carbonate precipitates out of the hard water, it forms limescale inside the boiler. Soft water area residents should not worry too much, but it doesn’t hurt to ask for help if you are not so sure.
The water treatment options work by changing water’s molecular structure, it changes the way water behaves. These products can neutralize limescale, loosen and remove hard deposits or even maintain the residual salts in suspension form to be flushed out periodically.
The outlook for possible corrosion can be determined by monitoring pH and salt levels as well as ionic conditions, using standard chemical testing kits.
It is very important to make sure that your system is put in by someone who knows what they’re doing as they will be aware of things like not connecting aluminium to copper or brass, which can cause corrosion. The gas connections should be made only by a trades person, who is Gas Safe registered (with CORGI).
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. However in case you are just updating your existing one, you can start with flushing the system and then think of any water treatment, there are chemicals you can add to your central heating system to reduce corrosion and sludge build up.
Heating systems take water from the mains water supply and there are various systems that you can attach to your mains supply to deal with hard water problems, however, it is worth noting that systems that are put in to soften water in your home are only for household use and will do nothing for your central heating system problems. These water softening chemicals can produce better lather and are good for your skin, but they cannot reverse the choking and pitting inside the heating system.
Corrosion, limescale and biological growth are the three things that you should be looking to limit or stop from occurring.
Corrosion can start from the moment the system is set up and filled with water from the mains supply. The residue from corrosive action causes clogging of the water flow and reduces uniform heat transfer through the radiators. Gradual pitting can perforate the metal piping, causing the boiler or radiators to rattle.
The calcium and magnesium present in hard water is responsible for limescale deposits. The high temperature of the water causes these elements to become hard and crusty, leaving deposits behind that clog pipes etc. This again can manifest itself with a noisy heating system.
Biological growth in the system is another one to avoid. This is usually introduced into the system through open tanks. Once in the system it breeds producing slime and gunk. This gunk stagnates in the plumbing and slows down the flow of hot water.
Plenty of free help is available on the internet. Take a look at this for a few minutes to improve your awareness. I would start with the manufacturers themselves. Below is a list of manufacturers and some of the popular products they have available. Forums and Blogs are another good source of free advice and wholesome information; you can also use these to directly get in touch with the suppliers.
All the best with your treatment and let’s hope you can get your central heating systems working as efficiently as possible to save you some hard cash.