Scale Build-up & Corrosion

Water Level Control


Steam boilers and hot water boilers are usually subjected to diverse water treatment techniques.

Steam boilers are mainly provided with treatment which avoids build up of scale and corrosion. Scale build-up takes place inside a boiler due to the accumulation of dissolved minerals present in the boiler feed water. This boiler water loaded with minerals tends to replace the clean steam and condensate leaks. Strategies to prevent scale attempt to keep the components of scale such as calcium and magnesium suspended in the boiler water or to reduce their concentrations in the boiler water.

One of the common techniques used to trim down the concentration of solids inside a boiler is known as bottom blowdown. In this method, the water simply gets discharged from the bottom of the boiler. To avoid scale deposits, the sludge build up must also be frequently discharged from the boiler system. Now for eliminating corrosion, oxygen scavenging chemicals are generally mixed up into the boiler water. Finally, to reduce the possibility of scale build-up and corrosion inside a boiler, the regular checking of boiler water is required to be carried out.

The problem of scale build up is typically not encountered in hot water boilers. It doesn’t mean that the water fed inside a hydronic boiler is free of dissolved minerals. Actually the only difference is that the hydronic boiler systems are capable of discharging equal quantity of dissolved minerals as much is entering the system. Hence, the possibility of mineral accumulation inside the boiler gets totally eliminated. However, the hydronic boiler systems still face the problem of corrosion which can be solved via addition of oxygen scavenging chemicals only.