Scale Inhibitors

woodlands40

I am looking to fit a scale inhibitor to my domestic water system to reduce the lime scale build up in the heating system and the water system.

Can anyone point me towards any information comparing the different methods and equipment available, before I spend any money?

I have had continuous problems with kettles, washing machines and heating boilers since moving to this house. Severn Trent states the water to be `Hard` in this area so it is a lime scale / water softener system I require.

Thanks for any help
Cheers
Dave

Paul_the_Painter

Your heating system will be using the same water over and over, it is sealed, apart from a bit of top up occaisonally (either from header tank in loft or directly if using a combi boiler, limescale prevention would have been added when the system was fitted, and every time the system was drained and flushed, so no need to worry about that.

If you use a salt based system, the water is softened, but is not neant to be drunk, so the kitchen tap will be left connected directly to the mains, so for the kettle problem you need something like a Brita filter, or a plumbed in version.

Personally I grew up in a hard water area, and can't stand soft water in showers (I never feel that the shower gel has washed off!) so can't really help there, although I have a great suspicion of devices that plug in and ionize/deionize/whatever the water, seems a bit like snake oil to me

woodlands40

Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply.
I drained and and filled the heating system myself this week when I changed a radiator, so i need to put some inhibitor in the system once I can work out how to get the stuff in. It was when I did this that I noticed a lot of scale around the Automatic air vent on the boiler water pump.
In the perfect world I would like a one off solution that needs no maintenance and works for the whole water system.
I agree about the soft water showers and like you I am suspicious of some of the systems ranging from £40 to £300 which might or might not work. The magnetic systems are almost as expencive (£30 to £100)
What I would like is some sort of comparison of the different types and some test results to show if they work.

bbruce

The electromagnetic ones all seem to work on the same principle. Try the Decalcifier from Maplins. Only just installed so can't give results yet. You only stand to waste £5.99.

Weymouth_Man

woodlands40 wrote:

I am looking to fit a scale inhibitor to my domestic water system to reduce the lime scale build up in the heating system and the water system.

Can anyone point me towards any information comparing the different methods and equipment available, before I spend any money?

I have had continuous problems with kettles, washing machines and heating boilers since moving to this house. Severn Trent states the water to be `Hard` in this area so it is a lime scale / water softener system I require.

Thanks for any help
Cheers
Dave

Hi Woodlands 40, We went for a softener some 3 years ago, water hardness was 280ppm, now reduced to around 5ppm. :j

Costs less in salt now for ALL the house water than it did to buy small bags solely for our Dishwasher.

No more descaling tasks, please see attached, we have the one with it's own flow meter, only regens when you have used a programed amount of water.

http://www.tapworks.co.uk/

innovate

I have had a non-electric, twin-compartment, 2020c water softener from Kinetico for about 4 years now. This is my second water softener in the same house.

I got the Kinetico as a free replacement for the first one - can't remember the make of that one, but it gave up the ghost after less than two years, and I think that firm's gone bust as well.

Since I had my water softeners, I don't have any more limescale literally anywhere (except see below), I don't need any Calgon etc for the washing machine, or any salt for the dishwasher. I also save on fabric conditioner - most of the time, I don't use any now, and everything comes out of the washing machine soft and fluffy. We need less soap, shampoo and washing powder, and I cannot confirm any problems with soap residues on the skin. Just takes a little bit of getting used to the tiny amounts of soap/shampoo/detergents you need once you have a water softener.

The only place I now have to fight the limescale is on the drinking water tap [which isn't mandatory but recommended], and in the kettle for which I always use unsoftened water. Nobody can actually taste any difference between the softened and unsoftened water in my house, but I am concerned that the softened water contains some salt residues that may not be healthy.

We have no Fernox or similar in our heating system - the whole system got filled with softened water about 6 years ago, and any top-up will also be with softened water. If you haven't got a water softener, you can buy some Fernox stuff which you can feed into your central heating system via a radiator (saw this in Homebase the other day).

My water softener takes up half of a 60cm base unit in the kitchen, and I can easily unplug it and take it with me if we move house. The original system cost £600, installation by a Kinetico-appointed dealer took a morning. Apart from regular refills with block salt it is maintenance free. The block salt costs us £46.00 for 10 bags [free home delivery by the installer], and last us easily a year (there's two of us in the house with the occasional visitors, we have at least one shower each a day, and the occasional bath too, dishwasher runs once a day, washing machine 3-4 times a week - you are likely to need more if there are more of you). If we ever didn't want to use softened water, we can just simply turn a tap to stop water diversion through the water softener.

Wouldn't want to be without my water softener because I simply hate limescale on showers, bathrooms, sinks etc!

BTW, I found my water softener and installer (Aquadition] on recommendation from Southern Water, and can recommend them to anyone living on the South Coast. I am sure STW will also have a list of reputable water softener installers - and if you or someone you know can do basic plumming, you might even be able to install a water softener yourself. Just choose one that can cope with the water usage in your house, and select a system that you are happy with. We have got a mechanic dual-chamber system which guarantees uninterrupted water supply - I wouldn't go for one that needs electricity and recycles at pre-programmed times.

I wouldn't ever put up without a water softener again!