Boiler Maintenance Guide: Effective Lime Scale Removal Strategies

It is an intervention for boilers that serves to recover the accumulator’s performance by cleaning the lime scale deposits.

The causes are due to the water quality which, being very hard (over 40°F), releases a lot of lime scale inside the accumulator over the years. When, after about a decade (Estimated for a family unit of 2 people), the accumulator shows consistent lime scale formations, various effects are noticed:

• Water tends to cool down during or after the first shower.
• Very hot water even though the boiler is set to a lower temperature
• Too low water flow (even after having checked the jet breaker and the health safety valve)
• Frequent burner ignitions and shutdowns

Therefore, it is possible to decide to perform a cleaning of the accumulator (boiler) to restore the correct functionality of the boiler. The intervention must be carried out by expert personnel and consists of dismantling the tank, mechanical cleaning, and reassembly.

Solutions for Lime Scale

Cleaning the boiler’s accumulator of lime scale is the most immediate solution, it is an intervention that lasts about 2 hours and consists of removing the accumulator, washing the lime scale, and reassembling the boiler. Once clean, the accumulator recovers all its efficiency as originally, ensuring the continuity of hot water and making the gas valve and sensors work less intensively.

For long-term operation, you can install:

• A water softener: The most effective for treating hardness
• A Polyphosphate doser: A dosing system of a component diluted in water that aims to prevent the aggregation of lime scale at high temperatures.

Use of a Polyphosphate Doser

There are different qualities available in the market, it is installed by expert personnel and consists of mixing a salt (polyphosphate) that prevents the formation of lime scale. It is recharged through powders or liquid. This salt helps to protect the walls of the pipes and the accumulator from lime scale incrustation, however, in the presence of very hard waters, it is less effective.

Use of a Water Softener

This system is certainly a good investment in case of very hard waters. It softens the water through resins, which are regenerated with salt every 2-3 days or after a certain volume of softened water. Placed at the beginning of the sanitary water system, it helps devices (boiler, washing machine, dishwasher) by providing softened water.