Top 20 questions regarding water chemistry maintenance and frequently asked questions for outdoor wood boilers from
www.BoilerChemicals.comWe get a lot of questions in regards to the water chemistry for hot water / outdoor wood boilers. Here is a list of 20 FAQ I put together:
1) How often should I replace out the boiler chemistry?
The most common chemical is a nitrite based passivation chemical. Nitrite will not convert to nitrate for 4 to 8 years depending on the boiler system. To be on the safe side, we recommend dumping and replacing your water and chemistry every 5 years.
2) Our product was a P-Indicator based product. When I added the chemical last year it was a light pink. When we fired up the system up, the water was clear. Do I need to add more chemical?
In most cases no. If you evaporated more then normal water off your system, it is possible you added additional makeup water. The component of the chemical that turns the water pink, is a P-Indicator commonly used to determine total alkalinity of water. If you add more low of neutral pH water you may have decreased the overall alkalinity of the system's water. If the water dips below around 9 pH, the P indicator may not be present.
This does not mean you need to add more chemical. Remember the nitrite chemical passivates your metal, pH is not as important. In the real world, if you have above 8 pH our experience shows you will have good corrosion protection.
The P-Indicator is just used to simplify chemical testing and is not required as part of quality of the chemical treatment.
If your water is clear, Use a standard nitrite test kit or nitrite test strips to verify you have proper nitrite residual.
3) If I over feed my boiler chemical will it cause any problems?
If you grossly over feed the any boiler chemical you may increase corrosion rates to any copper or bronze metals since it is most likely high in alkalinity.
4) What is the shelf life of the boiler chemical?
Typically, 4 to 6 years. Store it in a cool place to maximize the water life.
5) Is nitrite a source for bacteria development?
Yes, nitrite is a source for bacteria development, but in this application your water system is closed and there is not enough replenishing dissolved oxygen to create much, if any, bacteria within your system. When you fire up your system, the hot temperature will kill any bacteria or slim within the water system.
6) How should we layup the system when out of use?
If you are not planning on using your system for more then 8 months or greater, you should consider dumping the water instead of leaving it filled with water.
7) Are different boiler chemicals compatible with my existing chemical or antifreeze system?
Typically, Yes. There are only a handful of different chemicals out there and you can just add ours without dumping the existing water.
Should we use antifreeze in our boiler system?
We have heard antifreezes causes you to use more fuel source to maintain proper heat, but we have no data to support this in either direction. Now, if you leave your residence or facility unattended, you may consider at least using a 20% antifreeze solution.
9) What type of Antifreeze should we use?
In general, there are 2 common used types, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol.
Use a 99.9% food grade propylene glycol solution or a 95% corrosion inhibited propylene glycol solution. Do not use ethylene glycol of technical grade glycol. Ethylene glycol and technical grade propylene glycol will kill animals, pets, or humans if spilled and consumed.
Every year we get calls from a hospital about a person who accidentally drank their boiler water through some sort of water cross contamination.
Also, purchase a small test sample of any premixed solution that offers a freeze protection to -40F before purchasing a bulk quantity. Again, every year we get complaints about some premixed solution that promised freeze protection to -40F and the system froze and the pipes burst during a cold spell.
Typically, the premixed lower cost antifreeze is recycled antifreeze. There is good stuff out there, just test it out first to make sure it will work for you. Also, remember there is a difference between bulk water freezing and freezing where the water only slushes up. This temperature range can be as much as a 40 to 50 F difference.
10) Are boiler chemicals compatible with antifreeze?
Typically all of them are.
11) Do we need to use an oxygen scavenger such as a sodium sulfite based product?
No. You are not making up enough water to require using an oxygen scavenger. Dissolved oxygen enters the system through fresh water and system air intake leaks. If you are only making up minimal water, you are only adding a very small amount of dissolved oxygen (parts per billion). Oxygen scavengers are required in higher volume steam generation boilers.
12) What type of chemical testing is required?
Drop test or test strip with a residual 600 ppm and 1200 ppm of Nitrite.
13) Do I need to check pH?
With a Nitrite chemical, No. This chemical passivates the metal. As long as the pH is above 8 your system is fine.
14) My system is rusted. Do I remove the rust prior to using using a new boiler chemical?
No, we do not recommend remove the rust by means of acid cleaning. The damage is done and is irreversible. We have seen many cases where the system is cleaned and put back in service only to have pin hole size leaks are now. Many times the rust and corrosion is holding the metal together and is preventing the system from leaking.
15) I have a stainless steel wood boiler. Do I need to still chemically treat the system?
Yes, you should. In some cases, the stainless steel used is a lower grade stainless steel and you may have iron leaching from the exterior to the interior of the boiler. This chemical will work excellent on stainless steel systems.
16) Do we use softened water, RO water, ground water, or city water?
If you have good ground or city water, it is safe to use within your boiler system. Softened water is also good if your water is hard, but not necessary. Avoid using deionized or RO water.
17) Our manufacture of our wood boiler no longer exists or recently went out of business? Or the supplier of our previous boiler chemical no longer exists? Where do we get a new boiler chemical supplier?
Due to recent changes in EPA regulations on manufactures of outdoor wood boiler some are closing their doors in 2011. We have heard these new EPA regulations are costing manufactures up to $200,000 in order to meet the new regulations. So if your warranty no longer exists, rest assured our chemical will protect your system from corrosion. Most furnance distributors have access to them chemicals or purhcase them online.
product is ISO manufactured and quality insured up to $1,000,000. Samples of the blend is kept for 2 years for quality insurance purposes.
18) I have an outdoor wood stove water boiler. My system holds approx 800 gals. I ran the system last year without enough chemical treatment and currently now have scale buildup in the heat exchangers. Now what?
First, You should not be scaling up your heat exchanger, unless you have a lot of makeup water or very hard water.
If you have hard water I suggest, dumping the water and starting over with fresh softer water. You can use an all in one boiler chemical to minimize scale prevention, but ideally you use chemicals as a polisher to remove small amounts of hardness. If you cant get soft water use the all in one chemical. If you are losing a lot of water to evaporation, tighten the system up.
Second, if you have soft water or softened water and have only been operating for one year make sure it is not rust debris or other debris in the heat exchanger. If you did not use a corrosion inhibitor this may be the problem.
19) How important is our water cleanliness?
Water cleanliness is important to reduce erosion within your water system. Debris such as dirt or rust particles should be filter or flushed from the water system.
Also, if your water has been sitting idle for a few years and it has a bad odor. Dump the water and replenish the system with fresh water.
20) Is our product Haz-mat or we consumed the water by a mistake?
ALWAYS, keep a copy of the product MSDS in an easy to find location!
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Topic: Top 20 FAQ on Wood Boiler Water Treatment (Read 25402 times)