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Your boiler is an integral part of your household and plays a major role in indoor enjoyment, whether through rapid delivery or hot tap water or through rapid heating or your home. Normally a given, but what if you experience discomfort or disruptions?
Sentinel has been active as a specialist in the protection of central heating systems for more than 25 years. We have developed an extensive range of products to restore and maintain the efficiency of your installation; both to protect new systems and to restore old systems, as well as to extend the life of expensive components such as your boiler. All major international boiler manufacturers make recommendations for the use of Sentinel products in their boiler manual and / or water quality directive.
We all think that water is harmless, but when certain conditions show deviations, such as can happen in a central heating system, corrosion contamination can occur quite quickly. The corrosion process is actually a chemical reaction and results from the contact between your installation, which is made up of different metals, and the water circulating in it. As with most chemical reactions, heating the water is an accelerator or this process. This makes your heating system the ideal place for corrosion to occur, unless it has been treated and protected properly.
Whether you have come to this site through your own research or under the direction of your service engineer, we hope that after reading the information below you will have more knowledge and understanding of the importance of water treatment and understand the impact on the maintenance of your installation and / or its energy consumption.
The symptoms below might indicate underlying problems in your heating system. If this is the case, it is advisable to continue reading anyway.
Does your radiator have cold spots? Or does the top only get hot? Do you have to install your installation frequently?
Does your radiator make noise, your boiler or maybe even the overall installation? Which sounds come from - rustling, throbbing, hissing or rattling?
Are some rooms never or hardly warm? Or does your boiler have to run for a long time before your house is really hot?
If you think your heating system could use some attention, the next step is of course to contact an installation company or your own maintenance engineer. With his expertise, he can cast a thorough look at the status of your central heating system and water quality. Please state that you believe that your central heating system is inefficient and your household is not sufficiently heated. Of course we can advise you to consult several parties, prices and advice can vary, which can work to your disadvantage.
Indicate that you want high-quality water treatment products in your system, such as those from Sentinel. Over the years, energy prices have only increased and the efficiency in your heating system is more important than ever. Partly because of this, unfortunately, several products of inferior quality have also come onto the market, some of which for example consist of almost 97% water.
Discuss afterwards with your installer that your treated installation must be maintained annually, in order to keep the protection optimal.
We fully understand that it sounds strange if your installer tells you that your brand new, still shiny central heating system needs to be cleaned. You have just seen that he installed everything new; pipes, radiators and the boiler, to be subsequently filled with crystal clear water. How can it be that he regards the installation as contaminated?
We see water as a harmless and clean thing, but if the wrong circumstances come together, as is possible within your heating system, then corrosion can take place fairly quickly. This is also often called magnetite, which forms a sludge layer in your installation. This sludge will thicken further over time and will settle in places with a lower flow, such as at the bottom of your radiators and / or underfloor heating. As a result, your central heating system is hampered in its operation and can sometimes cause a general blockage.
In some areas in the Netherlands we still have to deal with 'hard' water. Limescale builds up on the surface of your heating system at the places where heating takes place. This immediately brings a few points of attention. Firstly, this has an adverse effect on the efficiency of your installation, because your boiler must work harder to achieve the same result. This is because lime has an insulating effect, which is the opposite of what you have in mind with your heating system. Secondly, it can cause boiler noise; a noise, thumping or knocking. Finally, limescale lumps together and due to the flow in your installation, flakes can float and sit where you do not want them, namely as a blockage of your pump, valves and / or valves.
The corrosion process is actually a chemical reaction and results from the contact between your installation, which is made up of different metals, and the water circulating in it. As with most chemical reactions, heating the water is an accelerator of this process. This makes your heating system the ideal place for corrosion to occur, unless it has been treated and protected properly.
With new central heating systems the problems often come through; melting agent, stamping oil, fats and plant debris and / or burrs Below you can read what does what:
These means are still sometimes used to make pipework together. Sometimes too much of this is used and this ishes away in your installation. Because these agents are aggressive in nature, it almost immediately increases corrosion in your newly installed CV.
New parts are literally and figuratively 'fresh off the press' and are often treated with stamping oil. This is to protect the metals, but once your heating system is in operation, this oil, together with the plant debris, can form sticky, sandy substance that can cause damage to valves and pumps.
Installation debris can vary in composition depending on the situation. For example, burrs of copper from the cutting of the pipe that disappear into the pipe, or dust and sand because other work took place simultaneously during construction.
Annual maintenance of your boiler, even though it is not mandatory, is wise for the following reasons:
Safety - proper maintenance of gas installations is essential to avoid risks with carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is not something you can smell and if it leaks out of your boiler, the chance of poisoning is very high. According to the Gas Safe Register, leaks were found in 4000 households in 2012.
Efficiency - regular maintenance and the correct adjustment of your heating system ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible. This makes your house nice and warm and your energy bill nice and low.
Costs - regular maintenance not only reduces your energy bill, but it also extends the life of your installation. What is of course much cheaper, and less stressful, than unexpectedly has to replace the boiler or expensive components.
