Meeting the new requirements of Building Regulations Part L when installing new condensing boilers in a hard water area

(16/05/2007)

An important change to the Building Regulations covering the installation of condensing boilers came into force on 6 April 2007, directly affecting plumbers and central heating engineers operating in hard water areas, which make up 65% of the UK’s water supplies.

This alteration to the Guidance documents for Part L of the revised Building regulations requires that in any new installation of a condensing boiler where the water hardness is above 200 ppm, some provision must be made to treat the feed water to reduce the rate of accumulation of scale.

Explaining the reasons behind the change, Harvey Bowden, Director of UK Water Treatment Association and Chairman of Harvey Softeners Ltd said: “Condensing boilers are most susceptible to rapid scaling because of the small waterways and the intense heat required for the rapid transfer to the domestic hot water circuit.

“Recent research commissioned by UKWTA, that helped bring about this change in the regulations concluded that, in a hard water area, the efficiency of a typical SEDBUK A boiler where no provision had been made to limit scale accumulation, will be reduced to that of a boiler with SEDBUK C rating within the first few heating cycles.

“So, how can plumbers and heating engineers ensure they are meeting the new requirements of Building Regulations Part L when installing new condensing boilers in a hard water area? There are various options, varying in effectiveness. Chemical and physical devices are relatively low cost and can be effective but most reputable manufacturers of physical devices would agree that there’s no way you can predict in advance how well a physical device will perform in any particular installation.

“Another alternative that has proved totally effective in scale reduction for over a century, is a salt-regenerated ion exchange water softener and this can be easily fitted at the same time as a new condensing boiler to keep it completely scale free. Also, if a softener is fitted to the water feed of a condensing boiler already in use, where customers are having problems with scale build up, the softened water will fairly rapidly de-scale the existing system and prevent further scale forming.“

Related categories:  Boilers - Combination and condensing   Boilers - Domestic   Boilers - Gas   Hot water generation and supply   Residential applications   Water filters and softeners   Water treatment 

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