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February 2, 2022There are many areas in South Africa that experience issues with hard water where lime scale build-up and corrosion cause problems, especially for geysers and elements.
Heated water will provide different levels of corrosion and scale build up, depending on the quality of the water. Hard water is water that has a high mineral content and is often indicated by the formation of limescale in kettles and geysers. This formation of an insoluble solid is mainly caused by the thermal decomposition of bicarbonate ions. The presence of ions can also lead to galvanic corrosion, in which metals can corrode in water in contact with other metals.
During the heating process, lime scale builds up on the geyser heating element, increasing the power consumption of the element by approximately 4% to 12%. In the article, listed below, an accelerated scaling method was used to lime scale the geyser element to reflect scale build up after 2-3 months. Naturally as the scaling increases over time so will the power consumption of the element, thus making it less and less efficient.
Scale build up and corrosion will result in your standard resistive element working harder to achieve the same temperature. This means higher running costs and potentially replacement costs when the element burns out. The more scale build-up that there is, the worse the problem.
It was also noted that the thermostat became less effective as the scaling altered the set temperature of the thermstat, ultimately havng an impact on the overall performance of heating elements.
Source Article: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1816-79502017000400009
There are many areas in South Africa that experience issues with hard water where lime scale build-up and corrosion cause problems, especially for geysers and elements.
Heated water will provide different levels of corrosion and scale build up, depending on the quality of the water. Hard water is water that has a high mineral content and is often indicated by the formation of limescale in kettles and geysers. This formation of an insoluble solid is mainly caused by the thermal decomposition of bicarbonate ions. The presence of ions can also lead to galvanic corrosion, in which metals can corrode in water in contact with other metals.
During the heating process, lime scale builds up on the geyser heating element, increasing the power consumption of the element by approximately 4% to 12%. In the article, listed below, an accelerated scaling method was used to lime scale the geyser element to reflect scale build up after 2-3 months. Naturally as the scaling increases over time so will the power consumption of the element, thus making it less and less efficient.
Scale build up and corrosion will result in your standard resistive element working harder to achieve the same temperature. This means higher running costs and potentially replacement costs when the element burns out. The more scale build-up that there is, the worse the problem.
It was also noted that the thermostat became less effective as the scaling altered the set temperature of the thermstat, ultimately havng an impact on the overall performance of heating elements.
Source Article: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1816-79502017000400009
There are many areas in South Africa that experience issues with hard water where lime scale build-up and corrosion cause problems, especially for geysers and elements.
Heated water will provide different levels of corrosion and scale build up, depending on the quality of the water. Hard water is water that has a high mineral content and is often indicated by the formation of limescale in kettles and geysers. This formation of an insoluble solid is mainly caused by the thermal decomposition of bicarbonate ions. The presence of ions can also lead to galvanic corrosion, in which metals can corrode in water in contact with other metals.
During the heating process, lime scale builds up on the geyser heating element, increasing the power consumption of the element by approximately 4% to 12%. In the article, listed below, an accelerated scaling method was used to lime scale the geyser element to reflect scale build up after 2-3 months. Naturally as the scaling increases over time so will the power consumption of the element, thus making it less and less efficient.
Scale build up and corrosion will result in your standard resistive element working harder to achieve the same temperature. This means higher running costs and potentially replacement costs when the element burns out. The more scale build-up that there is, the worse the problem.
It was also noted that the thermostat became less effective as the scaling altered the set temperature of the thermstat, ultimately havng an impact on the overall performance of heating elements.
Source Article: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1816-79502017000400009
XTEND elements are protected from this scale build-up and corrosion by a stainless-steel sheath and will not drop in performance over time. There will be some scale build up around the core in the middle of the element but, due to the shape and size of the protective casing, it does not affect performance nor does it put any pressure on the element itself to work harder. In addition, if the scale build-up is excessive, the element can be removed, cleaned and re-inserted.
XTEND elements are protected from this scale build-up and corrosion by a stainless-steel sheath and will not drop in performance over time. There will be some scale build up around the core in the middle of the element but, due to the shape and size of the protective casing, it does not affect performance nor does it put any pressure on the element itself to work harder. In addition, if the scale build-up is excessive, the element can be removed, cleaned and re-inserted.
XTEND elements are protected from this scale build-up and corrosion by a stainless-steel sheath and will not drop in performance over time. There will be some scale build up around the core in the middle of the element but, due to the shape and size of the protective casing, it does not affect performance nor does it put any pressure on the element itself to work harder. In addition, if the scale build-up is excessive, the element can be removed, cleaned and re-inserted.