Choosing The Right Guardian Product

The benefits of a healthy central heating system are well known; efficient space heating in your home, increased energy saving, less money spent on fuel bills, increased system reliability and extended system life. It is also well known that good system health depends on proper cleaning and flushing of the system followed by treatment with additives to protect it from corrosion and scale.

Indeed, new energy-efficiency legislation in some countries now obliges home owners to ensure their systems are cleaned and maintained to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Such legislation or ‘best practice’ codes also recognise that it is not possible to clean a system without the application of a chemical cleanser. But what is it that needs to be cleaned from the system? What cleaning method should be used and what cleaning product should be chosen?

The type and extent of debris, dirt and fouling commonly found inside central heating circuits largely depend on the age and nature of the system and how well or poorly it has been maintained. Even new systems invariably contain contaminants and debris from component manufacture or from the system installation work itself, whilst older, even well maintained installations are likely to have accumulations of sludge and scale. In any case, scales, sludge and fouling always reduce the efficient performance and reliability of a system and often very markedly so. Cold spots in radiators, boiler noise, blocked pipes, jammed valves, noisy and sticking pumps are all obvious symptoms of a dirty system.

Specific problems require specific solutions i.e. the right cleaning product and the right cleaning method for the type of cleaning that needs to be done.

Before cleaning, the system should be examined to determine the system configuration, the age and overall condition of components and the nature of the contamination that needs to be cleaned in order to decide the most appropriate cleaning method.

By far the most efficient method is mechanically assisted powerflushing. It should also be noted that, irrespective of the method used, hot flushing is more effective than cold flushing and reversing the flow will help to remove debris that might otherwise remain trapped.

It is also important that the most appropriate cleaning product is chosen to match both the cleaning method adopted and the cleaning job required. Guardian provides a complete range of cleaning & flushing products, each with its own special characteristics designed to do a particular cleaning job. The products to consider are:

• Guardian G1000 Inhibitor
• Guardian G4000 Descaler
• Guardian Ferronex Descaler
• Guardian G9000 Leak Sealer