Eliminating guesswork during annual servicing

With the maintenance involved with a wet central heating system requiring annual servicing, are housing associations ensuring their contractors are offering the most cost effective and time efficient methods of ensuring the system is protected from corrosion? Many housing associations will hand such maintenance programmes out to sub-contractors – heating engineers who will service the system annually and administer a suitable chemical corrosion inhibitor – but is this the way forward for hassle free corrosion management?

Fosseway Housing Association in Cirencester has discovered the benefits of using a physical corrosion inhibitor, devised by Scalemaster, and believes all housing associations should switch to this method of corrosion protection. John Archer of Fosseway said: "We have used Scalemaster’s Corrosion Master system on quite a few of our new developments. The physical inhibitor is a small device which is fitted to the pipe leading from the heating water supply. It completely eliminates the need for chemicals, which we’ve often found can be a hit and miss affair, and lasts for five or ten years depending on which inhibitor in the range is used.

"When using a contractor to administer chemicals into the system, the process can be fraught with problems. Sometimes they may not apply the inhibitor, or may under or over dose the system – and the correct concentrations of liquid can be difficult to monitor. The great thing about Corrosion Master is that there is visual evidence the job has been done, which makes post-installation inspections easier and the need to sample water from the systems is eradicated."

Scalemaster is a leading manufacturer of limescale prevention and corrosion protection products, and launched the Corrosion Master some eight years ago in the form of the CM10, which offers corrosion protection for ten years. It recently launched the CM5 which offers five years protection.

John continued: "If any of our tenants drain down one of their radiators for decorating purposes, when the system refills back up from the main water supply the chemical is immediately diluted. Using the Corrosion Master means this won’t be the case – no matter how many times the system is drained down."

The Corrosion Master has been independently tested by Advantica, formerly part of British Gas Plc, over a period of twelve months. It confirmed that the product offers outstanding corrosion protection for all metals typically found in wet central heating systems.

Dennis Brown, Scalemaster’s managing director, explained how the product works: "When fitted, CM5/10 acts as a galvanic cell and works by converting dissolved oxygen into a harmless hydroxide species, which does not support the corrosion process. Zinc species from the anode are released into the heating circuit water, providing cathodic protection throughout the system. The inhibitor is immediately activated by the presence of dissolved oxygen that enters via the tap water used for filling.

"The great thing about the Corrosion Master is that it continues to work until all the dissolved oxygen has been eliminated, then it switches off and lies dormant until the introduction of fresh water, meaning it is permanent and automatic.

"The use of physical inhibitors provides both ease of use and peace of mind, and eliminates the need for guesswork. It’s a simple flush, fit and forget process, with visual evidence the job has been done.

John concluded: "After piloting the product on one of our developments, we implemented it across all new developments, and will continue to specify its use in all new wet central heating systems installed."