Your boiler efficiency is affected by where you live
Your boiler efficiency is affected by where you live
You can find a number of products that can be added to your central heating system to help it run smoother as well as some products that can take care of themselves. Irregardless of which you choose, you should take proper care of your central heating system, only then can it perform efficiently. We have all heard the advice from the Government and environmental agents telling us to turn off our lights, turn off televisions and not leaving them on standby, and reducing our washing machine temperature and room thermostats. These environmentally conscious steps not only save the greenery on our planet, but also save the pound notes in our wallet. Are you paying the same attention to your central heating system? The heating system is also prone to reduced efficiency caused by corrosion, limescale formation and gunk buildup.
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 encompasses many different remedies for the protection of your system. Many types of water treatment products such as scale reducers and inhibitors, magnetic and electronic anti-lime mechanisms, sludge 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. If you find a build up of limescale in your kettle and on your shower head you probable live in a hard water area. Heating bills grow as a result of efficiency reduction caused by limescale. A tiny layer of scale inside the cylinder of your hot water can augment your fuel cost by up to 40%. These are basically calcium deposits solidifying from the water. 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 water treatment options work by changing water’s molecular structure, it changes the way water behaves. Some will change one structure for another, others remove the offending structure and another will stop them from being able to make a solid leaving them in suspension.
There are different types of chemical test kits available that can help you to ascertain the corrosion potential of water by measuring the pH, chloride, iron and copper levels.
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. You must get your gas connections done by a person registered with CORGI as the law requires this.
If you anticipate hard water problems, you can fit out your new central heating system with a suitable water treatment attachment. If you are upgrading your current system, you must cleanse your whole system before any water treatment chemicals are added.
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 will help make detergents and soaps lather more readily but do not help in the fight to get your heating system working efficiently.
The three main things that you need to prevent are corrosion, limescale and biological growth.
Corrosion will begin as soon as the tank is filled with water. The residue from corrosive action causes clogging of the water flow and reduces uniform heat transfer through the radiators. It can cause pinholes in the radiators and if left can cause the boiler to become 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. Once the water is heated it leaves deposits of these minerals which form a hard crust, building up over time and blocking pipes etc. Limescale can again make the gas central heating system noisy.
Biological growth is another thing that should be avoided at all costs. This tends to get into the system by open tanks. After managing to enter the system, it spreads by creating slime and gunk. This sludge 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. Please spare some time and go through this or read the other informative articles in this site. Producers of water treatment products provide detailed data and user references on their websites. Some well known manufacturers and their popular products are listed in this site, such as Sentinel or Fernox. You can also gain additional information and seek advice through different blogs or forums, some may be run by the manufacturers.
In order to ensure that your central heating system works efficiently and your home bills are also reduced, find out the best water treatment method and apply the recommended treatments annually.