Your central heating wants its water to be treated
Your central heating wants its water to be treated
Manufacturers have made multiple products and services that you can add to your central heating system to help it to perform efficiently for a longer period of time. Either way, a well looked after heating system will run more efficiently for you. 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. These environmentally conscious steps not only save the greenery on our planet, but also save the pound notes in our wallet. But what about getting your gas central heating system to work more efficiently? The build up of gunk and limescale deposits in your central heating system will cause it to run less efficiently.
To stop the build up of limescale and sludge in your system particularly in hard water areas, then you need to take a look at water treatment.
The term ‘water treatment’ is one that is used to describe various methods of taking care of your system. Magnetic/electronic lime fighters, scale reducers/inhibitors, sludge reducers, noise reducers and anti-freeze are examples of the type of water treatment products that are available to you.
You can either get hard or soft water in UK, depending on the area you live in. Hard water exposes you to limescale — your kettle, shower head and taps being the most probable areas where you first notice limescale masses. Limescale reduces efficiency and adds to heating bills. A tiny layer of scale inside the cylinder of your hot water can augment your fuel cost by up to 40%. 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.
A majority of water treatment methods alter the molecular structure of water and the associated particles, and thereby changes the way water behaves. Some methods change one structure into another; a few others, remove the interfering structure; and the remaining, prevent the formation of limescale.
Chemical test kits are available that allow you to check the probability and speed of corrosion by gauging the levels of ph, chloride, iron and copper.
First, you must ensure that your system has been installed by a competent person just knowing that you must never directly connect aluminium to copper or brass because simply by connecting different metals can start a reaction which causes corrosion. Every gas connection should be carried out by a CORGI, Gas Safe, registered professional.
Always plan before getting the new system installed; for instance, you should know what water treatment method should be used. 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.
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. They will help make detergents and soaps lather more readily but do not help in the fight to get your heating system working efficiently.
Corrosion, limescale and biological growth are the three things that you should be looking to limit or stop from occurring.
From the very instant your heating system is in place corrosion can begin. One of the symptoms of corrosion is cold spots in your radiators because gunk in the system prevents the water circulating properly. 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.
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.
Fungal and bacterial growth is another menace to vented heating systems. This tends to get into the system by open tanks. After the biological matter gets into the tank it begins to breed and produces gunk and slime. This sludge stagnates in the plumbing and slows down the flow of hot water.
Various forums and websites provide useful information on water treatment. Take some time to look through this. Kick-start with the manufacturers and their web sites. Browse through some of the reputed water treatment companies and their acclaimed products on this page. 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.
In order to ensure that your gas central heating system works efficiently and your home bills are also reduced, find out the best water treatment method and apply the recommended treatments every year.