Water Treatment for Tarm Solo Innova 30?

[wood-engineer]

I've been running a Tarm Solo Innova 30 for the last six months. I am extremely pleased with this unit, the only expectation it has left to fulfill is a 30 year life. On that note, should I be running an additive in the water? It is a closed system, it just runs to the storage tank coils and back. All copper & brass. The manual doesn't mention anything about this topic.

I have well water. It's pretty soft as is, but it also runs thru a softener.

Any thoughts? Thanks for your time. P.S. Some of you characters (and I mean that in a good way) really know you stuff. Wish I'd found this site earlier...

 

[Hansson]

I have never heard of anyone that have running an additive in the water overe here.

 

[jebatty]

An additive probably is not needed, partly because you used soft water. If it was me, however, and I had well water, I would do two things: 1) drain a little water from the system to see if it is as clear as fresh water that comes from the tap used to fill the boiler at the start; and 2) do a pH check on the well water to make sure it is 7.0 or higher. If the water is not crystal clear, then you may have acidic water and some corrosion may be occurring (or did occur and is now over); and same thing if pH is below 7.0. With a closed system, and assuming your water was drinking quality, any corrosion usually is minimal, is short-lived, and does no permanent harm. The initial corrosion consumes the free oxygen and neutralizes any acidity, and then stops -- unless you keep adding fresh water to the system or do not have oxygen barrier plumbing, in which case you can have a significant ongoing problem.

When I talked to Tarm in connection with my Solo 40, I was advised that recommended pH is 8.2. Everything I have read since recommends pH at least into the 8-9 range. Our well water has pH of about 6.5 (acidic), still OK for drinking, and with my open system at that time I was getting lots of rusty colored water + exposure to air. Since then I switched to a closed system, did a water treatment, and it has been 1-1/2 heating years since the change, the water remains crystal clear, and pH is in the 8-9 range.

 

[wood-engineer]

Thanks Jim. Sounds like solid advice. pH strips to test the water?

 

[jebatty]

Swimming pool test kits have pH strips that are good enough.

 

[wood-engineer]

If it is low, how do I bump it up?

 

[jebatty]

I'm not the expert here, and that said, you need a very high pH (alkaline) substance. Why not talk to Bioheat and seek their advice?

My choice was sodium hydroxide (lye or caustic soda). This is very caustic so you really have to be careful. I think some use trisodium phosphate. I don't have the chemistry background to calculate how much is needed, so I mixed with water and added, let the system circulate, and then kept doing the same until pH got above 8.

 

[dogwood]

Jim, do you know if Trisodium Phosphate is any safer than the lye you used? And where would you might purchase it? Is it something Lowes or Home Depot might carry?

If you do contact BioHeat, Wood-Engineer, I'd appreciate if you'd post their advice. I'll probably need to bring my well water up a Ph point or so for my Solo Innova. Thank you both.

Mike

 

[jebatty]

Trisodium phoshate is a heavy duty cleaner which should be widely available. As to safety, follow directions on the container. As a pH raiser, I don't know enough as to how to use it or how much to use. Wikipedia says a 1% solution has a pH of 12, so it is highly alkaline, and alkalinity is what you want to raise pH.

 

[pybyr]

I looked into boiler water treatments rather extensively during my initial install about a year ago. Local installers said that they're hardly ever used on residential installs-- but that there's little to lose and potentially a lot to gain. I was originally going to use TSP as mentioned above, but one very experienced retired boiler fellow strongly cautioned against it, on grounds that it can cause severe corrosion during any conditions where oxygen is in the system, even short-term. He was not an alarmist about any other topic I ever ran by him, so I placed weight on his warning against TSP.

Ultimately, I went with Rectorseal 8-way
http://www.rectorseal.com/index.php?site_id=1&product_id=172
"8-Way™ is a complete boiler water treatment (nonchromate, biodegradable) for both steam and hot water systems. 1. Removes sludge. 2. Removes rust scale. 3. Inhibits boiler corrosion. 4. Inhibits steam line corrosion. 5. Prevents oxygen pitting. 6. Inhibits lime scale. 7. Prevents surging and foaming. 8. Controls pH with a color indicator. "

2 Quarts, at a total cost of about $16.00, treated my whole system, and the water has stayed the appropriate purple color (it has a built in pH indicator dye).

If $16.00 helps a multi-thousand dollar boiler last the longest possible time, then it seems like a worthwhile idea. If it is used in commercial boilers (which it apparently is), I have to believe that it's not an irrational placebo.

 

[pybyr]

Oh-- one other caution about TSP-- at least in this region of the country, "real TSP" is no longer widely available at retail sale, as it has been identified as a concern for creating phosphorous loading in surface water that leads to algae blooms, etc.

When you ask in hardware stores for "TSP" they actually give you a box of some powdered concoction of other chemical compounds that is supposed to have a similar utility as TSP for cleaning purposes- but which may have a whole different set of characteristics than TSP itself inside a boiler system.

 

[Hydronics]

PH test strips are also available from Hercules (a manufacturer of glycol for hydronic systems). I'd look into corrosion inhibitors intended for glycol systems if you need to raise PH.

 

[wood-engineer]

You're right about the TSP. I bought some from the hardware store today. It's called TSP-90, but it phosphate free. Anyone know where I can get the real TSP?

 

[DaveBP]

I'm not sure there aren't cheaper sources, but here's one source:

(broken link removed to http://www.nationalchemicals.com/store/template/product_detail.php?IID=154&gclid=CK-FnY2Vqp8CFVFM5QodwDHE1g)

True Value hardware stores have the Savogran brand TSP available in some locations. Depends on local phosphate regulations. It's cheaper if they have it.