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@Steve Thompson (Taco):

For what anything is worth, I once read a book by Stan Grayson about old one cylinder gasoline marine engines. Which were the next generation of steam engines except some smart dude figured that you could use the expanding gasses of gasoline without the added weight and complexities of a steam boiler. They also used these same engines on fresh water lakes. Today, if you can ever find a working make or break engine, it came from a lake. Because all the marine engines returned to the state they started out. Powdered iron.

It is said that iron is the most common element in the earth. It is not found in the form of a cast iron circulator or engine block. It started out as a powder or some other form. It has to be refined to turn it into cast iron or steel. It can be recycled. The town I lived in on Cape Cod had a terrible problem with dissolved iron in the ground. So much so that the end of the town I lived in, had all wells with high iron in the water. They put a municipal well system in near me and had to spend millions of a manganese greensand filter to oxidize the dissolved iron into a solid so they could filter it out. My water was clear as a bell but you could taste the slight iron taste. The water was slightly acidic with a PH of 6.7 or 6.8. I installed a whole house 2 Cu. Ft. calcite flow through neutralizing filter with raised the PH to over 7.0. Before or after, I never got any rust slime in the bottom of a drinking glass left out overnight. My heating system was filled with the untreated water before I moved into the finished house. I don't think I ever completely removed the water from the system. I sold the house in June of 2013. The water in the system turned redder and redder with age. The iron was already in the water when it was installed. I've seen that same calcified plaque iron on circulator impellors where there was no flow, stuck on surfaces. (my thing about impellor cavitation) and inside some circulator volutes. If anything is out of the ordinary, I noticed it. With water well pumps that pumped in high iron locations, you would see that same calcified hard iron on the low flow parts of brass impellors and especially around and on Bakelite impellor diffuser covers. I saw it on Stainless Steel water pumps. The common denominator to me was the presence of iron and vast amounts of friction which probably create vast amounts of static electricity, that was doing a form of electroplating to surfaces. My heating system was a cast iron boiler with a Taco 007 until I changed it to a Wilo ECM. If I drained the water from the system, the rust was still in the water when I filled it back up. It coated everything.

Getting back to the old one lung marine engines. They failed because the salt water sets up a very good environment for the cast iron to change to what it was when it was in the earth. A powder. Rust on steel bridges or cars is just Cast Iron in a state where it can go back into the earth.

Personally, without any educated expertise. it would be interesting to see what magnetic separation collectors would do in a closed heating system. There are already many, many other magnetic sources in a heating systems. What's another?

Here's another example of what I am saying.

The two units to the East of me, developed low water pressure in their units. One was unoccupied, the one next to me was. The City came and futzed around with it and decided that it was "Calcified" or had "Calcium Build Up" at the Corporation Cock at the main. So, a few days later a large gang showed up to fix it. Let me say right out, that I have paid my dues for many years, playing earth Guitar in the Dirt Band. Where I came from, and the band I played in, this work was done by one or two musicians. Playing 5' Banjo's. This job required a mini-excavator and 6 men. two as arguing supervisors. Eight if you count the two that came on a Saturday to gig it up, decide it wasn't the curb stops, (4" from the main) and fill in the hole They ripped out everything in sight except for any rubber roots with the copper core. When they got down to business after the destruction, the main was 2" Sch. 80 PVC pipe with a Cast Iron clamp on saddle fitting, a brass Corporation cock, brass adapters, and then to Poly Pipe. The "Calcification" was in the cast iron adapter that made the connection to the 2" PVC main. The "Calcification" is from the iron in the water which the city adds something to encapsulate the iron in the water and lots of chlorine to kill critters. Where I'm from, they would have poked a beater screwdriver in to the obstruction and let the rust particles flow out with the water.

The only dis-similar metals were the Cast Iron saddle adapter and the brass Corporation Cock.

It took 30+ years to occlude.

Don't they use Iron Oxide for some forms of sand paper?

That's why everyone is looking at the mag sep add on. Grab as much as possible first trip. We put X amount of ferrite in a circuit and measure what collects.

Still the best plan would be to treat the problem, not the symptom. Why are we seeing the iron ferrite. Has it always been flowing around the systems? I've really never looked for it until it started showing up in permanent magnet circs.

One thing to remember about vortex separation, it takes some fairly high velocities to make them work. We built a clear plastic version, connected to a Grundfos Magna so we could dial in exact flow rate Connected the ultrasonic flow meters to confirm.

As we see more and more variable speed circ on both side, boiler and distribution, the ability to use vortex separation efficiently may be in question. Or perhaps program the pumps to assure high velocities for certain periods of time, then modulate.

Having built clear samples of both, no question the media type seperators are amazingly effective from very low, to well over the normal velocities you would expect to see in typical hydronics. We run 'em out to 10- 12 fps on the test bench

Gordy: That's exactly what I was thinking -- a chunk of removable pipe with a magnetic shell around it.

The only other thing I can think of that I would be able to implement easily with equipment I already own is this: A high flow/low head screw-on filter (such as we use on constant-duty heavy equipment cooling systems) with isolation valves and an air bleeder. I'll have to check out the actual filter specs and info, but I know they're rated up to at least 300* F and 75 psi. Just don't recall if they're paper elements or some kind of mesh. The filter adapters we use are generally piped for 1" or 1-1/4" NPT with a mounting plate, with the filter screwing on from below. The filters themselves are about 18" long and 5-6" diameter...and pretty cheap in the grand scheme.

Then again, a good dirt mag would probably be cheaper and better in the long run anyway.

I might be way out there on this one...just happened to think about it while reading through new posts. I know for a fact that despite flushing and cleaning, there's still a fair amount of crud floating through my system, and god-knows-what settled into the bottoms of my 100 year old radiators. Given the option to have one installed originally, I definitely would have...unfortunately, like many, the bulk of my HeatingHelp education came after the fact (ha).