Magnetite, Dirt & Sludge in Heating & Cooling System

Why is the removal of magnetite, dirt & sludge so important?

Modern boilers have very low water content, making them very vulnerable to accumulated deposits (dirt) causing boiler failure. It’s not unusual for a 100 KW condensing boiler to contain approximately 10 litres of water.

Below are several reasons why a programme of water treatment is so important for modern low-water-content boilers.

It’s a cold winter’s morning, and for some reason the heating is off and everybody’s complaining of the cold. You go to your boiler, but instead of the strain of productive noises it remains soundless.

This scene will be played out in a host of building (schools, hospitals, universities, banks, etc) during winter and the blame for boiler/chillers failure will be placed on the shoulders of the non-operational appliance. But is it natural design faults or the use of sub-standard components that causes poor performance and premature plant failure?

The most common cause for equipment failure has nothing to do with the design, build and performance of the boiler. The main reason for appliance breakdown is dirty water. The water that circulates around any heating (or cooling) system will be contaminated with a variety of damaging debris, including magnetite (which turns to sludge). Such contamination is always damaging to a heating/cooling system, but to the latest generation of high-output, low-water-content appliances, dirty water is a major hazard.

Traditional type boilers (such as large water capacity cast-iron sectional appliances) can sometimes tolerate considerable fouling for long periods of time before eventually failing. Traditional types generally have larger water content than more modern boiler types, so the amount of debris that is formed in a system has a larger volume within a boiler to be deposited into. Therefore the amount of deposit may be considerable, but due to the physical size of the boiler the debris may be spread fairly thinly, and the heat change on the sump areas of a boiler is likely to be fairly low in comparison with a modern boiler heat exchanger.
Boiler manufacturers constantly strive to raise the efficiency of appliances and reduce size and weight to meet the needs of legislation and cut down on space required within buildings for plant installation.

Water Content

Generally the size and water content of the system pipes and the heat emitters are more or less the same, regardless of the type of boiler providing the heat source. Therefore, the amount of debris from corrosion of the system will be similar, regardless of boiler type. However, when you consider that a 100 KW traditional boiler type will have a water content of some 60 to 80 litres, but the content of a state-of-the art modern boiler 100 KW is approximately 10 litres and the heat flux is much higher. It can easily be seen that there is six to eight times less volume to accommodate the same amount of potential deposit.

Modern-type boilers are here to stay

Consultants, designers and installers must come to terms with the fact that system cleansing and water treatment is now very vital and necessary to the welfare and prolonged existence of the boiler/chiller plant, rather than something that ought to have been done but frequently was not.

These rules should be observed and enforced.

  1. Do install Microbubble Air & Dirt Separators with Magnets. The MagVent Range
  2. Make sure the water system is De-aerated
  3. Do install Chemical Dosing pots.
  4. Do cleanse systems.
  5. Do treat systems with good-quality corrosion inhibitors.
  6. Do install adequate flushing points.
  7. Do fill large-capacity systems (in very hard water areas) with softened or demineralised water.
  8. Do monitor refill water volumes and investigate promptly if water replenishment          is excessive.
  9. Do not drain/refill systems unless absolutely necessary.
  10. Do maintain water-treatment concentrations.
  11. Do check and flush the dirt separators regularly (to drain), but most importantly during the first months of operation of new systems or those that have just been worked on.

Problems arising with air (microbubbles) and dirt in water systems

Rather than simply being re-active to the problems you need to be pro-active as well. Air and microbubbles also contribute largely to the problems in heating and cooling systems. It’s no use simply extracting the magnetite without extracting the air and microbubbles as well. Microbubbles in the system cause corrosion. A De-aerated system is also what you require. One with out the other will simply not work or do.De-aerationThe word De-aeration describes the removal of dissolved gases from liquids such as air from water.
When water is heated or the pressure reduced gas microbubbles are released into the system. Microbubbles can be the cause major problems such as pump failure, corrosion and energy loss.

The Solution.

Filtering Magnetite, Sludge, Air & (Microbubbles), Efficiently & Successfully.

As an aid to system cleaning you should specifically install Magnetic Filtering. The magnetite MagVent range has been developed by Fabricated Products (UK) to remove potentially damaging particles from both hot and chilled water systems. It is comprised of a very fine stainless-steel strainer capable of removing Air & (Microbubbles) plus debris down to 10 micron. Inside the body of our unit is also a high-gauss magnetic rod these two elements combined together provide a very powerful cleaning device. As the water flows through the unit the magnetite is attracted to the magnetic rod and even the smallest particles down to 5 micron and less are collected. Through simple & cost effective maintenance the magnetic rod is then removed. All magnetite which flows through the unit will be removed 100%. For the complete and efficient removal of air & dirt from water systems Fabricated Products (UK) offers a comprehensive range of air & dirt separation equipment.

It is perhaps human nature to blame the component that exhibits the symptoms and not look any further.

Running a clean and well maintained water condition in heating & cooling systems is not expensive and ensures reliable operation from pumps, valves and heat emitters etc, as well as the boiler and chillers.

Please enquire about our MagVent range of air & dirt separators.A Clean and Efficient way for longer lasting less problematic.