Where you live can impinge upon your heating boiler
Where you live can impinge upon your heating boiler
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. In either case, your system will be well-prepared to work efficiently if you take the time to maintain it. It is now well known, thanks to advice given by governments and environmental organisations, that we should save energy wherever possible by turning off lights, washing clothes at lower temperatures, switching televisions off and turning down thermostats. All of these are effective ways of saving energy which will not only help environmentally but also reduce many household energy bills. So how to make your central heating system run efficiently and reduce carbon dioxide? Your gas central heating’s efficacy decreases when limescale deposits and gunk accumulate in it.
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 lifeblood of your heating system is the water that runs through it – Water Treatment maintains that water at an optimal quality to prevent damage and breakdown of the central heating system. Magnetic/electronic lime fighters, scale reducers/inhibitors, gunk reducers, noise reducers and anti-freeze are examples of the type of water treatment products that are available to you.
Living in the UK means that depending on whereabouts you are in the country, your water can range from hard to soft. Limescale deposits are common in areas that get hard water, and these deposits are first seen on kettles, taps and shower heads. These deposits decrease the 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 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.
Water treatment products act by modifying the water borne salts and preventing harmful reactions. 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.
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. By law, only CORGI registered tradespeople can deal with gas connections, this scheme is now known as Gas Safe.
If you anticipate hard water problems, you can fit out your new central heating system with a suitable water treatment attachment. It would be a good idea to completely flush your whole system before adding any water treatments.
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 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. One of the symptoms of corrosion is cold spots in your radiators because sludge in the system prevents the water circulating properly. If left as such, it can lead to the formation of pinholes in the radiator, and it will also make the boiler noisy.
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. Heat causes these minerals to precipitate and step by step encrust the inner lining of pipes, leading to obstruction. This can be another cause of the central heating boiler making strange noises.
You should also be wary of biological growth. This is usually introduced into the system through open tanks. After the biological matter gets into the tank it begins to breed and produces gunk and slime. In addition to the tank, they grow into the pipes and block them; thereby the efficiency of the system is further reduced.
You can find a lot of information and advice on how to deal with these problems on the internet and in this site. Take out time to go through a few pages of free advice. Manufacturers of water treatment products provide detailed data and user references on their web sites. Some well known manufacturers and their popular products are listed in this site, such as Sentinel or Fernox. Blogs also offer ample source of free help and information or you can contact the companies with any questions.
In order to ensure that your gas central heating system works efficiently and your family bills are also reduced, find out the best water treatment method and apply the recommended treatments annually.