Where you stay can impinge upon your central heating system
Where you stay can impinge upon your central heating system
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. The point being that if you look after your system it will look after you. Our Government and environmental activists have been telling us to switch off lights, turn TVs completely off instead of leaving them on standby, and lower the temperature of our washing machines as well us the thermostats of our rooms. All the above enlisted ways effectively save energy, protect the environment and bring down the electricity bill. But, how will you make sure that your central heating system works efficiently? As the layers of gunk and limescale starts piling up, the efficiency of the system starts dwindling increasing your energy costs.
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. 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.
If you are living in UK, you should first ascertain the hardness of the water you are getting. Living in a hard water area means that you are prone to limescale your kettle probably being the first place that you will notice limescale deposits as well as on your showerhead and taps. Limescale deposits inside boiler parts, pipework and radiators increases energy consumption and can lead to banging and bumping in the pipework. A tiny layer of scale inside the cylinder of your hot water can augment your fuel cost by up to forty percent. Limescale is simply calcium deposits in your system. These problems are not seen in areas that get soft water, however in case of any doubt one should always seek advice.
Water treatment products act by modifying the water borne salts and preventing harmful reactions. It can do this in different ways for example, by changing one structure for another, by taking away a structure or by inhibiting the structure from becoming solid.
If you want to determine the corrosion rate inside your heating system, you can do so by using these chemical kits which measure the chloride, copper and iron levels and measure the pH.
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.
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.
With regards to heating systems, you have to prevent three important things viz,limescale, corrosion and biological growth.
Corrosion can start from the moment the system is set up and filled with water from the mains supply. 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. Deposits of these minerals leave hard crusts in the system when the water is heated. This can also make the system noisy and uneconomical, you will be paying for energy that does not heat your home.
You should also be wary of biological growth. This problem occurs when tanks are open as they are in certain types of central heating system. After the biological matter gets into the tank it begins to breed and produces gunk and slime. This material can really make your system under perform by clogging up the pipework.
Plenty of free help is available on the net. Take out time to go through a few pages of free advice. We recommend starting with the manufacturers themselves. You can see below a list of some of the most popular products and their manufacturers. 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 heating system which is enjoyable, healthy and cost-efficient on both kinds of green!.