Live in a soft water area and get leaner gas charges

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. The point being that if you look after your system it will look after you. We have all heard the advice from the Government and environmental agents telling us to turn off our lights, turn off televisions and not leaving them on standby, and reducing our washing machine temperature and room thermostats. All of these are effective ways of saving energy which will not only help environmentally but also reduce many household energy bills. 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.

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

The term water treatment encompasses many different remedies for the protection of your system. A wide range of water treatment products including scale reducers and inhibitors, magnetic and electronic lime fighters, gunk removers, noise reducers and anti-freeze are available.

Living in the UK means that depending on whereabouts you are in the country, your water can range from hard to soft. If you spot limescale formation inside your kettle or bath taps, there is probably hard water running in your taps. These deposits decrease the cost-efficiency of your system which in turn increases your household bills. 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 which contains less calcium salts is less prone to this scale formation, however it is advisable to test the water and take precautions.

The way that most water treatments work is by changing the molecular structure of the water’s particles which, in turn alters the way it behaves. One way of modification is to convert a structure completely to another, another is to take out the mischievous component, and yet another way is to prevent the structure from becoming solid, thus leaving its normal process unrealized.

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.

Remember that when two different metals are connected (for example- aluminium and brass), an anode and cathode polarity is created thus starting the process of corrosion; this is something that a competent technician should watch out for when installing your system. The service technician fitting your gas connections should possess CORGI certification, this is now called Gas Safe and is a legal requirement.

Always plan before getting the new system installed; for instance, you should know what water treatment method should be used. 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 sludge build up.

The mains water supply provides water to the heating systems, one can fix various other systems with the mains supply in order to deal with the problem of hard water, however these systems that soften the water work only for your household, they don’t do much about the problems associated with the central 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.

The three main things that you need to prevent are corrosion, limescale and biological growth.

The first problem that you may have to face is corrosion, it can start as soon as the system is installed and filled with water. Corrosion produces gunk and this prevents free circulation, this can eventually lead to formation of cold spots on radiators. Pinholes can develop in the radiators which can make the boiler noisy when heating up.

Limescale results from the presence of calcium and magnesium in water, hard water regions have these elements more than the rest of the country. The high temperature of the water causes these elements to become hard and crusty, leaving deposits behind that clog pipes etc. This can be another cause of the boiler making strange noises.

Biological growth in the system is another one to avoid. They gets into the heating system through open tanks. After entering into the system, they starts breeding and produce slime and sludge. This sludge stagnates in the plumbing and slows down the flow of hot water.

There is a lot of free advice on the internet. These resources cover product details as well as user feedback. Producers of water treatment products provide detailed data and user references on their websites. 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.

So wish you all the best for your water treatment, make sure you chose the one that is effective and at the same time reduces your household bills by helping you maintain an efficient gas central heating system.

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