How your localised water can cut your gas efficiency and hurt your gas boiler
How your localised water can cut your gas efficiency and hurt your gas boiler
There are many optional products that are available to add to your central heating system to keep it running on a regular basis, and there are others that you can install and let them do the work for you day by day. Either way, a well looked after heating system will run more efficiently for you. 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. These environmentally conscious steps not only save the greenery on our planet, but also save the pound notes in our wallet. But how about making your central heating system operate more effectively? The accumulation of sludge and limescale deposits in your central heating system will reduce its efficiency.
It usually happens in areas where hard water is present, you can go for water treatment to avoid these deposits.
Water treatment refers to several aspects of taking care of your central heating system. Various products of water treatment are available like electronic line and magnetic filters, noise reducers, sludge removers, anti-freeze and scale reducers and inhibitors.
Living in the UK means that depending on whereabouts you are in the country, your water can range from hard to soft. 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. Just a small, thin layer of scale in your hot water cylinder can increase your fuel bills by as much as forty percent. Limescale deposits are simply composed of calcium. Soft water area residents should not worry too much, but it doesn’t hurt to ask for help if you are not so sure.
Many water treatments produce the desired effect by changing how water molecules and the particles inside act through modifications of their structure. These products can neutralize limescale, loosen and remove hard deposits or even maintain the residual salts in suspension form to be flushed out periodically.
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.
It is very important to make sure that your system is put in by someone who knows what they’re doing as they will be aware of things like not connecting aluminium to copper or brass, which can cause corrosion. The gas connections should be made only by a trades person, who is Gas Safe registered (with CORGI).
You should decide about the water treatment well in advance, especially when you are installing a new heating system. If you are updating your existing system you would be looking at flushing the whole system before adding any water treatment solutions.
Heating systems get their supply of water from the main water source of your household and many mechanisms can be connected to the main source to solve water issues, yet, you should keep in mind that water softening systems installed for your home are only meant to serve your household needs and will not help with the hard water problem affecting your 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.
Corrosion can start from the moment the system is set up and filled with water from the mains supply. Your radiators can suffer from cold spots caused by restricted circulation as a result of gunk created in the system by corrosion. It can cause pinholes in the radiators and if left can cause the boiler to become noisy.
Limescale results from the presence of calcium and magnesium in water, hard water regions have these elements more than the rest 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. Again, the symptom of this can be a heating system that makes noise.
Biological growth inside the system is another hazard that must be prevented. This is usually introduced into the system through open tanks. Once in the system it breeds producing slime and gunk. This material can really make your system under perform by clogging up the pipework.
You can learn more about these problems on the internet. Take out time to go through a few pages of free advice. It is recommended that you begin with the producers of the various systems. Browse through some of the reputed water treatment companies and their acclaimed products on this page. You can also gain additional information and seek advice through different blogs or forums, some may be run by the manufacturers.
All the best with your treatment and let’s hope you can get your heating systems working as efficiently as possible to save you some cash.
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