Lower your energy charges with softer water supply for your gas boiler

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. Regardless, a central heating systems that’s given proper care will work for you smoothly. 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 TVs off and turning down thermostats. All the above enlisted ways effectively save energy, protect the environment and bring down the electricity bill. 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.

If you live in a region where hard water is being supplied, then you should look for water treatment methods to prevent gunk and limescale from damaging your central heating system.

Water treatment refers to several aspects of taking care of your central heating system. gunk extractors, limescale inhibitors, electronic and magnetic lime reducers, anti-freeze compounds and noise reducing agents are some of the extensive water treatment products sold in the market today.

The UK has water types ranging from hard to soft based on the region where you live. If you spot limescale formation inside your kettle or bath taps, there is probably hard water running in your taps. Central Heating bills grow as a result of efficiency reduction caused by limescale. Your fuel bills can increase by forty percent even with small deposits of limescale in your cylinder. Limescale deposits are simply composed of calcium. Those who live in soft water areas need not take quite so many precautions but it is always wise to seek advice if you are unsure.

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.

There are chemical test kits which will measure the ph and chloride levels and also the iron and copper levels so that you can measure the probable corrosion potential and rate.

First, you must ensure that your system has been installed by a competent person just knowing that you must never directly connect aluminium to copper or brass because simply by connecting different metals can start a reaction which causes corrosion. You must get your gas connections done by a person registered with CORGI as the law requires this.

If you plan ahead of time while having a new system assembled, you will be able to identify the water treatments you need and have some of them installed with your system. However in case you are just updating your existing one, you can start with flushing the system and then think of any water treatment, there are chemicals you can add to your central heating system to reduce corrosion and gunk build up.

It is worth noting that mains water supplies heating systems, but that any system you use to soften water will not help with any central heating problems that you may be having. These solutions can make detergent and soaps to lather effortlessly, but they will not be able to help the heating system to work efficiently.

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. Corrosion produces sludge and this prevents free circulation, this can eventually lead to formation of cold spots on radiators. It can cause pinholes in the radiators and if left can cause the boiler to become noisy.

Hard water contains magnesium and calcium and these minerals deposit as limescale in the system. Deposits of these minerals leave hard crusts in the system when the water is heated. Again, the symptom of this can be a heating system that makes noise.

Biological growth is another thing that should be avoided at all costs. Minute organisms can enter through the vents and storage tanks of the boiler. After managing to enter the system, it spreads by creating slime and gunk. If the growth occurs in pipework, it can decrease the efficacy of the entire system.

Various forums and websites provide useful information on water treatment. These resources cover product details as well as user feedback. Kick-start with the manufacturers and their web sites. Browse through some of the reputed water treatment companies and their acclaimed products on this page. Blogs are another great source of free advice and information or contact a supplier with any queries that you may have.

All the best with your treatment and let’s hope you can get your central heating systems working as efficiently as possible to save you some hard cash.

Posted in Heating