Reduce your gas costs with softer water supply for your central heating boiler
Reduce your gas costs with softer water supply for your central heating boiler
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 maintained. We have all heard the advice from the Government and environmental agents telling us to turn off our lights, turn off TVs and not leaving them on standby, and reducing our washing machine temperature and room thermostats. All the above enlisted ways effectively save energy, protect the environment and bring down the electricity bill. 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.
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. A wide assortment of water treatment products is easily available like sludge remover, scale reducer, anti-freeze, magnetic scale fighter, noise reducer, electronic scale inhibitor, and the like.
In the UK, depending on where you live, your water could range between hard and soft. Limescale deposits are common in areas that get hard water, and these deposits are first seen on kettles, taps and shower heads. Any accumulation of limescale will make your system run less economically and therefore increase your heating bill. A tiny layer of scale inside the cylinder of your hot water can augment your fuel cost by up to forty percent. Limescale deposits are simply composed of calcium. 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 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.
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. If you are revamping the old system, you should rinse out the whole system before adding the water treatment method.
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.
The three main things that you need to prevent are corrosion, limescale and biological growth.
From the very instant your heating system is in place corrosion can begin. Corrosion causes sludge in the system which can restrict the circulation causing cold spots on your radiators. If left as such, it can lead to the formation of pinholes in the radiator, and it will also make the boiler 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. A vibrating and wheezing heating system can be a real nuisance.
Biological growth inside the system is another hazard that must be prevented. The growth enters the system through open tanks in certain types of heating system. After entering into the system, they starts breeding and produce slime and gunk. It can also cover the inside of the pipework resulting in clogs and negatively affecting the operation of the whole system.
You can find a lot of information and advice on how to deal with these problems on the internet and in this site. Please spare some time and go through this or read the other informative articles in this site. We recommend starting with the manufacturers themselves. Some well known manufacturers and their popular products are listed in this site, such as Sentinel or Fernox. You can also find a lot of really useful information and tips through forums as well as speaking to suppliers directly with any specific questions that you may have.
Now you should be able to choose and install an effective central heating system which is enjoyable, healthy and economical on both kinds of green!.