Unit 307 Water Treatment Explained | Level 3 Diploma & 9289 Phase 2

before we talk about the kit we need to talk about the enemy because if you don't understand what water treatment is fixing you'll fit the wrong kit for the wrong reason and the customer will still have a problem the enemy is named precipitation not the rain kind the chemistry kind here's what you need to know water in a lot of the uk especially the south the midlands and parts of the east is what we call temporary hard water Temporary hard water contains calcium carbonate, chemical symbol CaCO3.

Most people just call it limestone because that is literally what it is.

Dissolved limestone carried in the water, invisible to the eye.

now here's the key moment when that water reaches 65 degrees celsius the calcium in it reforms it comes out of solution and turns back into a solid that process is called precipitation and where does it precipitate on the outside of the heat exchanger on your immersion heater element on the inside of your kettle on the guts of your cockpit boiler anywhere the water has been heated to that magic 65 degrees threshold that solid form is lime scale and lime scale does three things all of them that are bad one it reduces the appliance efficiency because it's basically a layer of insulation sat between the heat source and the water it's trying to reach Two, it can cause blockages, narrow pipe bores, clogging up shower heads, jamming valves.

And three, it drives energy bills up because your boiler is now working harder to heat up water through a crust of stone.

And in extreme cases, it will make the appliance completely unusable.

So that's the enemy, dissolved calcium carbonate activated by heat, depositing itself as solid limescale inside the customer's system.

Now, the water undertaker, the water company, they treat the water before it reaches the property.

That treatment covers safety, wholesomeness, all of the regulatory stuff.

But it does not remove hardness.

So in the hard water areas, the responsibility for protecting the plumbing from limescale falls to us.

The people fitting the systems bringing us to the kit.

before we talk about the kit we need to talk about the enemy because if you don't understand what water treatment is fixing you'll fit the wrong kit for the wrong reason and the customer will still have a problem the enemy is named precipitation not the rain kind the chemistry kind here's what you need to know water in a lot of the uk especially the south the midlands and parts of the east is what we call temporary hard water Temporary hard water contains calcium carbonate, chemical symbol CaCO3.

Most people just call it limestone because that is literally what it is.

Dissolved limestone carried in the water, invisible to the eye.

now here's the key moment when that water reaches 65 degrees celsius the calcium in it reforms it comes out of solution and turns back into a solid that process is called precipitation and where does it precipitate on the outside of the heat exchanger on your immersion heater element on the inside of your kettle on the guts of your cockpit boiler anywhere the water has been heated to that magic 65 degrees threshold that solid form is lime scale and lime scale does three things all of them that are bad one it reduces the appliance efficiency because it's basically a layer of insulation sat between the heat source and the water it's trying to reach Two, it can cause blockages, narrow pipe bores, clogging up shower heads, jamming valves.

And three, it drives energy bills up because your boiler is now working harder to heat up water through a crust of stone.

And in extreme cases, it will make the appliance completely unusable.

So that's the enemy, dissolved calcium carbonate activated by heat, depositing itself as solid limescale inside the customer's system.

Now, the water undertaker, the water company, they treat the water before it reaches the property.

That treatment covers safety, wholesomeness, all of the regulatory stuff.

But it does not remove hardness.

So in the hard water areas, the responsibility for protecting the plumbing from limescale falls to us.

The people fitting the systems bringing us to the kit.