Rinnai
GOING SOFT ON WATER TREATMENT
According to Rinnai UK, leader in
continuous flow gas water heating
products, stored hot water systems
suffer badly from the problem of scale
build up – even when water treatment
measures are in place.
Lime scale consists of calcium
carbonate (calcite) with lesser amounts
of other calcium salts such as sulphate.
Sometimes lime scale deposits contain
corrosion debris and this scale build-up
can affect the water heaters by reducing
their efficiency and overall performance.
Ultimately, ongoing use with hard
water will shorten the lifespan of water
heating appliances.
Limescale build up is a serious problem
in Southern England, Wessex, Wales,
Hull and the Thames area. In these hard
water areas especially scaling in stored
hot water systems ultimately leads to
lower performance, breakdown, and
expensive remedial treatment such
as power flushing and in the worst
scenario cracked cylinders. Serious
money needs then to be spent to get
the system back to work; all of which
means downtime, inconvenience and,
for many businesses a detrimental
impact on income, customer satisfaction
and performance.
Basically, there are three types of water
treatment available for the management
of scale. The first, a calcium softener,
physically takes calcium out of the
water and exchanges it for sodium.
The second type is a physical electro-
magnetic device that clips around pipe
work and encourages the scale to ‘go
with the flow’ rather than attach itself
to the cylinder.
Sodium water softeners are effective
but have two drawbacks – the water is
not potable - and they rely on people
to put salt in them, thereby allowing a
possibility of human error.
One of the most common reasons for
engineers to be called out is because
‘the water softener has stopped
working’. 99 times out of a 100 this is
only because the operator has forgotten
or omitted to add salt to the water
conditioner.
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The third solution, zinc-based inhibitors,
is the only type recommended by
Rinnai for use with its appliances.
This technology uses electrochemical
dispersement to impart a precise
amount of soluble zinc which interferes
with the crystallisation process of scale
build up.
The use of water softeners and scale
inhibitors can go a long way towards
alleviating the problem but with
stored hot water systems, apart from
calcium water softeners if, after passing
through the conditioner, hot water is
subsequently stored in a cylinder then
after 24 hours the process is reversed
and scale begins to build up again.