FEATURE A CORROSIVE CONUNDRUM Deterioration can cause an array of major problems in heating systems; something that a
three-storey registered charity in St Helens knows only too well. Here, Sentinel Commercial explains how they helped solve the building’s heating output issue and provided significant savings on energy costs.
The Millennium Centre is a purpose-built, multi-resource facility constructed in 2001. It hosts over 70 charities and statutory organisations, including an NHS Walk-in Centre, Citizens Advice Bureau, pharmacy and Visual Impairment Resource Centre. Facilities at the Centre also include multiple free-of-charge rooms for meetings, training, conferences, counselling and therapy. To heat the building, a low temperature, hot water system comprising two steel commercial boilers was installed, with radiant panel radiators and air handling units to supply heat to rooms and offices.
Between 2013 and 2015, tenant and visitor comments turned to complaints as the heating system repeatedly failed. In late 2015, the building’s maintenance company, which had unsuccessfully tried to clean and flush the system, turned to Sentinel Commercial for a solution.
Chris Shelton, Sales Director at Sentinel Commercial, and Richard Cumber led the project. Initial inspection of the building’s heating system uncovered severe and extensive corrosion. Richard explained: “We opened the strainer on the air handling ductwork and what looked like crude oil emerged. It was a truly severe level of corrosion, one of the worst that I had seen despite working in water treatment for several decades.”
Analysis confirmed that the thick black substance was mainly iron oxide, a product of corrosion. A sample of system circulating water was also analysed for suspended solids, conductivity, molybdate, and total and dissolved iron.
Further inspection revealed that corrosion had accumulated inside most of the building’s radiant panel radiators, preventing the circulation of water. The build-up of corrosion debris can affect panel radiators particularly gravely due to their horizontal positioning, which means that heavy iron oxide particles can accumulate quickly inside the radiators’ flat, internal copper tubing.
Over the course of just a few years, heat output from the facility’s commercial heating system decreased to almost nothing, despite rising thermostats. Upon inspection, boiler manufacturer-endorsed water treatment specialist, Sentinel Commercial, along with Richard Cumber, an exponent of water treatment, found that the heating system had severely corroded and was almost entirely blocked with thick, iron oxide corrosion deposits. The specialists then implemented a programme of best practice system cleaning and protection. For the Millennium Centre, the solution delivered a valuable return on its investment, not only fully restoring heat to the building, but providing significant savings on maintenance and energy costs.
Liz Elliott, Assistant to the Executive Chairman at the Millennium Centre, said: “From 2013 we started to experience serious problems with the heating system. Typically, it would be in some parts of the building and off in others. The issues gradually worsened through to 2015, when at times we were getting no heat output whatsoever. It was then that we decided action was absolutely necessary.”
30 | TOMORROW’S FM “Corrosion can lead to a range of
issues from complete boiler failure to increased energy consumption and poor heat output.”
Corrosion debris was also found to be entirely blocking the flexible heating pipes that connect the radiators to the main heating system. With an internal diameter of 10mm, these had clogged rapidly. Consequently, the flow of circulating water throughout much of the vast and complex heating system was negligible to non-existent.
The chief cause of corrosion within the Millennium Centre’s heating system was caused by a combination of poor water treatment and excessive oxygen ingress. Corrosion can lead to a range of serious issues from complete boiler failure (sometimes within months of commissioning) and premature repairs and parts replacements, to increased energy consumption and – as the Millennium Centre can testify – poor heat output.
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