Processing your regional water to assist your central heating
Processing your regional water to assist your central heating
You can find a number of products that can be added to your heating system to help it run smoother as well as some products that can take care of themselves. Regardless, a central heating systems that’s given proper care will work for you smoothly. You must have heard those environmental and government agents asking us to switch off our Television, lights etc when not in use, the room thermostats and washing machine temperatures should also be turned down to cut energy use and carbon dioxide production. By doing all this, you not only cut down on the electricity bill, but also protect the environment. But what about getting your central heating system to work more efficiently? The build up of sludge and limescale deposits in your central heating system will cause it to run less efficiently.
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.
The term ‘water treatment’ is one that is used to describe various methods of taking care of your system. Various products of water treatment are available like electronic line and magnetic filters, noise reducers, gunk removers, anti-freeze and scale reducers and inhibitors.
You can either get hard or soft water in UK, depending on the area you live in. If you find a build up of limescale in your kettle and on your shower head you probable live in a hard water area. Limescale deposits inside boiler parts, pipework and radiators increases energy consumption and can lead to banging and bumping in the pipework. A tiny layer of scale inside the cylinder of your hot water can augment your fuel cost by up to forty percent. Basically, limescale is just the build up of calcium deposits. Soft water which contains less calcium salts is less prone to this scale formation, however it is advisable to test the water and take precautions.
Most water treatments act by altering the molecular structure of the water and the particles therein and changing the way it behaves. Some methods change one structure into another; a few others, remove the interfering structure; and the remaining, prevent the formation of limescale.
You can find out the ph and chloride, iron and copper levels with chemical test kits, which will allow you to measure the likely corrosion rate in your system.
Your system must be installed by a professional, never connect brass or copper to aluminum as this can lead to corrosion through the interaction of these metals. Every gas connection should be carried out by a CORGI, Gas Safe, registered professional.
You should decide about the water treatment well in advance, especially when you are installing a new heating system. If you are upgrading your current system, you must cleanse your whole system before any water treatment chemicals are added.
Products added to the mains supply can soften hard water and improve the quality of water for domestic use, but they do not prevent or remedy deterioration of the central heating system. You will be able to make lather with detergents and soaps more easily but your heating system will still have problems with efficiency.
Corrosion, limescale and biological growth are the three prominent things you need to stop.
Right from the time the system is installed and commissioned, internal conditions can cause corrosion to set in. Corrosion produces gunk and this prevents free circulation, this can eventually lead to formation of cold spots on 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 is caused by calcium and magnesium which is present in the water hard water areas having far more of these minerals than other parts of the country. Once the water is heated it leaves deposits of these minerals which form a hard crust, building up over time and blocking pipes etc. This again can manifest itself with a noisy heating system.
You should also be wary of biological growth. Minute organisms can enter through the vents and storage tanks of the boiler. Once in the system it breeds producing slime and gunk. This gunk stagnates in the plumbing and slows down the flow of hot water.
A lot of free advice is available on the internet on how to get rid of biological growth. Take some time to look through this. Producers of water treatment products provide detailed data and user references on their web sites. Below is a list of manufacturers and some of the popular products they have available. Besides inquiring for information with company sources, you should also read opinions on specialised blogs.
Now you should be able to choose and install an effective heating system which is enjoyable, healthy and economical on both kinds of green!.