Every 30 seconds in the UK, a boiler breaks down – most often as a result of poor water treatment.
In fact, research shows that 99.5% of heat exchanger and pump components which fail during the boiler’s warranty period come from systems without quality water treatment, while approximately 87% of boiler call-outs are to systems without correct water treatment.
SystemCare from water treatment specialist Sentinel is a proven and cost effective way to ensure high standards of water treatment, thus overcoming the inconvenience and cost of boiler breakdowns, as well as protecting boiler manufacturer warranties.
With its new SystemCare package, Sentinel is placing higher emphasis on the requirement for best practice water treatment in the housing association marketplace. SystemCare allows the specification and delivery of best practice heating system protection. Using SystemCare, customers not only receive market leading treatment and testing, but can benefit by allowing Sentinel to completely manage the delivery of water treatment services, absolutely free. That’s right, there’s no additional expense over and above the cost of an agreed Sentinel product package – in essence, giving highly valued training and support from Sentinel engineers, free of charge.
SystemCare is set to become a popular option for housing association specifiers, contractors, and installers for a number of reasons. For instance, when a boiler manufacturer is called out to examine a broken down boiler, investigations automatically start with a check of the system water. If it’s found that the system has not been properly cleaned and treated as required in the installation manual, the boiler warranty may become void. In addition, there will inevitably be costs associated with getting the boiler up and running again, as well as disruption – so it makes sense to ensure problems associated with the quality of the circulating water in the system are avoided by meeting the requirements of UK Building Services Compliance Guide to Part L.
Using high quality water treatment products, such as Sentinel, to clean, protect and maintain heating systems is therefore vital. SystemCare products will not only ensure successful system commissioning, but reduce boiler breakdowns dramatically, maximising the lifespan of the system and minimising maintenance costs. All of the major boiler manufacturers acknowledge the benefits of working with Sentinel by recommending the use of Sentinel products in their boiler manuals. They know that systems that are properly treated rarely give rise to problems.
For specifiers and installers looking to be a part of the SystemCare network, getting involved couldn’t be simpler. Sentinel will arrange a meeting to carry out a no-obligation audit of the heating programme. This will include a closer look at system design, programme type, historical installer water treatment performance, current water quality, and other factors.
Within a week, Sentinel will return with the relevant information provided in a bespoke service level agreement, which will include tailored product specifications, method statements, training programmes for all engineers and quality assurance officers including a timeframe for delivery. Shortly after, Sentinel will be ready to begin delivery of the bespoke training package.
Through comprehensive training and quality assurance testing, specifiers and installers can be confident that once passed, the system has been commissioned quickly and effectively using best practice processes. The training provides everything that engineers and quality assurance officers need to know about water treatment, delivered using both theory-based and practical training sessions.
After each boiler is commissioned in the field, a SystemCare check of the water condition will be taken and an independent laboratory will complete the system water sample analysis and provide the results – again all within a week. The customer will receive a monthly report of the SystemCare checks undertaken, although samples and results can also be tracked online. Finally, an annual check of the system health and protection levels will ensure ongoing peace of mind.
Ultimately, test results from leading OEM studies show that heating systems which have passed water quality assurance tests experience significantly fewer boiler breakdowns than systems commissioned to an average level.
A further advantage of using SystemCare is that the recently adopted ‘Sentinel System’ is followed throughout the process to ensure maximum protection is achieved and maintained during the boiler’s life. The ‘Sentinel System’ is a best practice solution that is designed to help installers and specifiers get the water treatment process right every time. It promotes a straightforward, three-step water treatment process of ‘clean, protect, maintain’ to ensure lifetime protection of heating and hot water systems.
As part of the Sentinel System, every product across the entire Sentinel range has been placed into a clean, protect, or maintain category (according to its overall function within the water treatment process), and each category is represented by a distinct and easily recognisable symbol
The standard SystemCare package includes market-leading products from the Sentinel System range, such as Sentinel X800 JetFlo cleaner for hot and cold systems and power-flushing, Sentinel X100 inhibitor for protection against corrosion and limescale, Sentinel Eliminator filter to capture magnetic and non-magnetic circulating debris, and Sentinel SESI electrolytic limescale prevention device.
