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minerals in water

smklin
smklin Member Posts: 69
in Water Quality
I have a few TT boilers that have heat exchangers going bad in them . I did but in glycol when I started up the system . Can glycol and mineral in water react to make them leak ????

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,693
    Not the combination. But minerals -- if there are enough of certain ones -- can ruin a boiler astonishingly quickly. It is best to use deionized water for your initial fill if there is any real concern about the water quality.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • smklin
    smklin Member Posts: 69
    I am in a area that has high mineral content .DEIONIZED WATER would RO water work
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,693
    smklin said:

    I am in a area that has high mineral content .DEIONIZED WATER would RO water work

    Yes.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Canucker
  • kcopp
    kcopp Member Posts: 4,463
    When you say "going bad" please explain... What is the entire system have for components? Which boiler?
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,628
    edited April 2018
    Reverse Osmosis will take you a while to do and your cartridges and membrane must be relatively new.

    What minerals can do is shorten the life of the additive package in glycol, which is why you use DI, RO, or distilled water.

    Chlorine is a no, no, but where is the leaking happening? Too much mineralization can build up on the HX and may create hot spots which may weaken the tubes.

    Water quality is becoming a big issue with the newer boilers, especially with glycol.
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,219
    edited April 2018
    Leaks at the welds?

    Chlorides in high levels can be a problem on stainless boiler. In the manual they give you an acceptable range for TDS and chlorides typically.

    I have not found many places in the US where tap water is adequate quality for hi-efficiency boilers. Either treat the water DI or RO, buy treated water, many water treatment suppliers have RO or DI water to purchase, or use pre-mixed glycol.

    Here is a handful of boiler water specs. Viessmann, in the center has a different spec as the boilers increase in size. 2 PPM on larger boilers, that's not commonly found water :)



    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • smklin
    smklin Member Posts: 69
    The heat exchangers start to leak in them .It has triangle tube boilers, aquatherm piping, grundfos pumps .
  • AdrianeGray
    AdrianeGray Member Posts: 2
    Several minerals commonly found in the tap water are:
    Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Phosphorus etcetera.
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,611
    @AdrianeGray
    Are you visiting this site in order to learn English?
    Your other post https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/165334/which-heating-system-is-the-best-for-home#latest
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein

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