Treating your regional water to help your central heating
Treating your regional water to help your central heating
There are countless products available in the market that you can add to your central heating system to ensure that it runs properly, and there are several other products that can do work for you even in standalone mode. 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. What is the best way to get your central heating system to work more economically? With the accumulation of the likes of limescale and sludge in your system will make it less efficient.
You should be thinking about water treatment to stop this accumulation of gunk and limescale, especially if you live in a hard water area.
Water treatment refers to several aspects of taking care of your central heating system. 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.
If you are living in UK, you should first ascertain the hardness of the water you are getting. Living in a hard water area means that you are prone to limescale your kettle probably being the first place that you will notice limescale deposits as well as on your showerhead and taps. Limescale deposits inside boiler parts, pipework and radiators increases energy consumption and can lead to banging and bumping in the pipework. You may be surprised to hear that you bills can increase by as much as forty percent with just a thin layer of limescale in your hot water cylinder. Limescale is nothing, but calcium deposits in your central heating system. 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.
The way that most water treatments work is by changing the molecular structure of the water’s particles which, in turn alters the way it behaves. One way of modification is to convert a structure completely to another, another is to take out the mischievous component, and yet another way is to prevent the structure from becoming solid, thus leaving its normal process unrealized.
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.
To begin with, you should make certain that your system has been assembled by a qualified individual, for example it’s important to have the simple knowledge that connecting aluminum and copper or brass triggers a corrosive reaction because that’s what happens when different metals are joined. By law, only CORGI registered tradespeople can deal with gas connections, this scheme is now known as Gas Safe.
It is a good idea to plan ahead, if you are having a new system installed, think which water treatment you will require as some can be fitted to 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 gunk 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. They do not alter the efficiency of your system, they only allow soaps and detergents to produce more lather when washing clothes.
Corrosion, limescale and biological growth are the three things that you should be looking to limit or stop from occurring.
Right from the time the system is installed and commissioned, internal conditions can cause corrosion to set in. Your radiators can suffer from cold spots caused by restricted circulation as a result of gunk created in the system by corrosion. Gradual pitting can perforate the metal piping, causing the boiler or radiators to rattle.
Hard water has a higher concentration of calcium and magnesium salts which cause limescale deposits within the system. 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 can be another cause of the boiler making strange noises.
Biological growth inside the system is another hazard that must be prevented. This problem occurs when tanks are open as they are in certain types of central heating system. It establishes itself in the system and then produces sludge and slime. In addition to the tank, they grow into the pipes and block them; thereby the efficiency of the system is further reduced.
Plenty of free help is available on the internet. These resources cover product details as well as user feedback. Lets first have a look at the manufacturers. 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 central heating systems working as expeditiously as possible to save you some hard cash.