Drain about 600ml (1 pint) of water from the boiler or a radiator. Orange water denotes rusting, and black the presence of sludge. In either case, treat immediately with corrosion inhibitor. If there are no obvious signs of corrosion, test for inhibitor levels by dropping two plain steel nails into a jar containing some water from the system and place two similar nails in a jar of clean tap water. After a few days the nails in the tap water should rust, but if the system contains sufficient corrosion inhibitor, the nails in the system water will remain bright, if they don’t your system needs topping with inhibitor. It is important to use the same product that is already present in the system, if you don’t know what it is, then flush the system, then refill with fresh water and new inhibitor. Potterton Boiler Repairs London use corrosion inhibitor.


Adding Corrosion Inhibitor:

You can slow down corrosion by adding a proprietary corrosion inhibitor to the water. This is best done when the system is first installed, but the inhibitor can be introduced into the system at any time, provided the boiler is descaled before doing so. If the system has been running for some time, it is better to flush it out first by draining and refilling it repeatedly until the water runs clean. Otherwise drain off about 20ltrs (4 gallons) of water, enough to empty the feed and expansion tank and a small amount of pipework, then pour the inhibitor into the tank and restore the water supply which will carry the inhibitor into the pipes. About 5ltrs (1gallon) will be enough for most systems, but check the manufacturer’s instructions. Finally, switch on the pump to distribute the inhibitor throughout the system. Potterton Boiler Repair London drain systems.


Reducing Scale:

You can buy low voltage coils to create a magnetic field that will prevent the heat exchanger of your boiler becoming coated with scale. However, unless you have soft water in your area, the only way to actually avoid hard water in the system is to install a water softener. Before fitting any device to reduce scale, it is essential to seek the boiler manufacturers advice.