Gas Boilers Information

Your boiler economy is impacted by where you are

There are innumerable products available in the market that you can add to your 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. You must have heard those environmental and government agents asking us to switch off our TV, lights etc when not in use, the room thermostats and washing machine temperatures should also be turned down to cut energy use and carbon dioxide production. 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.

To prevent a mass of sludge and limescale from building up in your system, especially where the water is hard, you must try water treatment.

The lifeblood of your heating system is the water that runs through it – Water Treatment maintains that water at an optimal quality to prevent damage and breakdown of the 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.

You can either get hard or soft water in UK, depending on the area you live in. Hard water exposes you to limescale — your kettle, shower head and taps being the most probable areas where you first notice limescale masses. Any collection 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 40%. Limescale is simply calcium deposits in your system. 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.

Water treatment products act by modifying the water borne salts and preventing harmful reactions. Water treatment works in different ways, it can change the structure or prevent the formation of solid or remove the offending particle altogether.

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.

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 service technician fitting your gas connections should possess CORGI certification, this is now called Gas Safe and is a legal requirement.

Don’t rush in to making a decision, always carefully consider what type of water treatment you need with your particular system. If you are revamping the old system, you should rinse out the whole system before adding the water treatment method.

The central heating system will take water from the main pipeline, and in this line, even if a functional water treatment method is already there to tackle the problem of hard water this method will be of no use for your heating system. These solutions can make detergent and soaps to lather effortlessly, but they will not be able to help the heating system to work efficiently.

Corrosion, limescale and biological growth are the three prominent things you need to stop.

From the very instant your heating system is in place corrosion can begin. The residue from corrosive action causes clogging of the water flow and reduces uniform heat transfer through the radiators. Pinholes can appear in the radiators and if untreated the boiler can start making noises.

The calcium and magnesium present in hard water is responsible for limescale deposits. When the water is heated, these minerals deposit, forming a hard crust that grows with time and blocks the pipes. A vibrating and wheezing heating system can be a real nuisance.

Biological growth in the system is another one to avoid. The growth enters the system through open tanks in certain types of heating system. The biological growth advances rapidly in the form of a slimy lining. This gunk 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. Take some time to look through this. Producers of water treatment products provide detailed data and user references on their web sites. Below is a list of manufacturers and some of the popular products they have available. Forums and Blogs are another good source of free advice and wholesome information; you can also use these to directly get in touch with the suppliers.

Good luck with your water treatment heres to energy efficient central heating and hot water with lower household bills of course.