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Heating season doesn’t start with the first cold snap. For heating engineers, the work that prevents winter problems starts well before customers turn their heating back on.
Summer and autumn provide a valuable opportunity to check existing systems before boilers are put under sustained load and winter callouts start filling the diary.
And being winter-ready means more than firing up the boiler and checking that the radiators get warm.
Corrosion, scale and the debris can affect system performance without producing an obvious fault straight away. That means a system can appear to be working normally while problems are developing inside radiators, pipework and heat exchangers.
A proper pre-season visit gives engineers the opportunity to deal with those problems before they become winter call-backs.
Poor system water quality isn’t always immediately obvious. Magnetite can accumulate, limescale can reduce heat transfer and inhibitor concentration can fall following water loss or work on the system.
The customer may only notice once the symptoms become significant: cold spots, unusual noises, poor circulation or a system that takes longer to heat the property.
By then, you’re dealing with a problem rather than preventing one, often at exactly the point when installer diaries are becoming busier. Finding and dealing with system water problems during a planned pre-season service is considerably easier than returning to the same property when the heating is needed most.
Water treatment is also an important part of correct system installation and maintenance. BS 7593 provides the recognised code of practice for preparing, commissioning and maintaining domestic central heating and cooling water systems, while manufacturer instructions should always be followed for the particular appliance and system being worked on.
So what should an engineer be looking at before winter?
Whatever the age of the system, Sentinel’s approach to good water treatment follows three stages.
Before you think about protection, establish what’s already happening inside the system.
Existing corrosion debris, sludge and other deposits aren’t problems an inhibitor is designed to remove. If the system is contaminated, it needs to be cleaned appropriately first.
The cleaning method should reflect the condition of the system.
For systems requiring chemical cleaning, Sentinel X800 Fast Acting Cleaner is designed to remove loose corrosion deposits and scale, cleaning a system in as little as one hour.
Systems with significant contamination, persistent circulation problems or a poor water-treatment history may require a more intensive approach, such as powerflushing.
The important point is not to treat every system identically. Assess its condition and select an appropriate cleaning method.
Read Sentinel’s guide to tackling magnetite, sludge and repeat heating system failures.
Once the system is clean, the next job is protecting it. This is where inhibitor earns its place.
Cleaning deals with contamination that’s already present. Inhibitor helps prevent the corrosion and limescale problems you don’t want developing after you’ve left the property.
The result of cleaning can often be seen immediately: dirty system water clears, radiator circulation improves and debris is removed. Preventative protection is less visible, but that doesn’t make it less important.
Sentinel X100 Inhibitor provides leave-in protection against corrosion and limescale, helping to protect system efficiency and reduce the likelihood of future system problems.
For correct treatment, dose in accordance with the product instructions and the volume of the system you’re working on.
Where a permanent in-line magnetic filter isn’t already installed, the pre-season visit can also be a useful opportunity to discuss the additional protection filtration can provide by capturing circulating magnetic debris.
Explore Sentinel X100 Inhibitor and Sentinel’s filter range.
The final stage is the one that’s easiest to overlook. Protection needs to be checked.
Systems lose water, components are changed and radiators are bled, all of which can affect what’s in the system over time. That’s why testing inhibitor concentration as part of routine servicing matters.
Rather than assuming inhibitor is still present at an effective concentration, engineers can check it as part of routine servicing.
The Sentinel Instacheck kit provides a quick on-site method for checking inhibitor concentration, helping engineers establish whether protection needs attention rather than relying on guesswork.
It’s a small part of a service visit, but it helps turn inhibitor from something that was probably added at some point into system protection that can actually be checked.
Find out more about Instacheck.
For engineers preparing systems ahead of the heating season, the following provides a useful starting point.
Establish what you can about previous cleaning, treatment and maintenance. When was inhibitor last added or checked? Has the system recently lost water? Have radiators or other components been replaced?
Look for signs that further investigation or cleaning may be needed, including poor circulation, cold spots, noisy operation or visibly contaminated system water.
Select a cleaning method appropriate to the condition of the system and follow the product manufacturer’s instructions.
Once the system is appropriately clean, dose it with a suitable inhibitor according to system volume and product instructions.
Check inhibitor concentration rather than simply assuming sufficient protection remains in the system.
Where appropriate, inspect and service an existing filter or discuss whether filtration would provide additional protection for a system that doesn’t currently have it.
Document the water-treatment work carried out as part of the service and complete the relevant commissioning or service records.
Winter doesn’t cause corrosion or scale, but it does have a habit of exposing systems that aren’t in good condition.
Once a system is operating for longer periods and under greater demand, existing problems are more likely to become noticeable to the customer.
And that’s exactly when installer diaries are at their busiest.
A problem identified during a planned service in August or September gives you options. The same problem presenting as poor heating during a cold spell becomes urgent.
That’s why pre-season servicing isn’t simply about checking whether the boiler works.
It’s an opportunity to make sure the whole heating system is ready for the months ahead.
The period before sustained heating use begins is a practical time to check system condition, water treatment and inhibitor protection. For many installers, that means making the most of August and September before winter callouts increase.
What does central heating protection involve?
Sentinel recommends a Clean. Protect. Maintain. approach: clean the system appropriately, protect it against corrosion and scale with inhibitor, and maintain that protection through routine checking and testing.
Not automatically. The appropriate action depends on the system’s condition, history and the work being undertaken. Assess the system first and follow relevant standards, manufacturer guidance and water-treatment product instructions.
Test it. Sentinel’s Instacheck kit is designed to check inhibitor concentration on site rather than relying on assumptions about when or how much inhibitor was previously added.
Because the two products do different jobs. Cleaning removes existing deposits and contamination; inhibitor provides ongoing protection against corrosion and limescale once the system is clean.
Get ahead of the heating season with the right approach to system water treatment. Explore Sentinel’s complete range of cleaners, inhibitors, filters and testing solutions to help Clean. Protect. Maintain.
