De-silting of the heating and
air conditioning
systems

Is your heating or air conditioning system showing signs of exhaustion? Do you notice cold spots on your radiators or hot spots on your air conditioners?

In order to solve these problems on a long-term basis, Curatec offers building and condominium managers in Luxembourg the appropriate de-silting solutions.

Why descale heating or chilled water circuits?

Unlike sanitary water systems, for example, heating or air conditioning systems operate in a closed circuit. It is the same water that runs in a loop, under the effect of a circulation pump. But, as the seasons go by, impurities accumulate in your installations. This is called sludge. In this sludge, we find :

  • Tartar, naturally contained in the water.
  • Oxides, resulting from the corrosion of the metals in the installation.
  • Acids, from the deterioration of certain treatment products.
  • Microorganisms such as bacteria.
  • Hydrocarbon residues, etc.

The problem is that this encrusted sludge prevents the proper functioning of the heating or air conditioning systems. When sections of the hydraulic circuit become clogged, the circulation pump has to turn harder and harder, resulting in increasingly poor energy efficiency. At the same time, the thermal comfort of the occupants continues to decrease.

To increase the life of your installations, the only solution is to inject and circulate chemicals to remove and break down the sludge. Currently, 2 main types of de-silting are offered on the market: slow de-silting and hydrodynamic de-silting.

Slow or passive de-silting

First, a clarifying sludge filter is installed in the boiler room in parallel with the system to be treated, before reagents are injected into the circuit to dissolve and loosen the embedded sludge. This sludge is then “trapped” by filter bags, which are replaced regularly.

This passive de-silting technique can be suitable for very fragile installations or those that are not very dirty. But it requires patience: it takes several trimesters to observe tangible results. In addition, in apartment buildings, the process is not powerful enough to remove the most stubborn sludge in blocked or more distant heat generators.

Without a more complete de-silting of the whole installation, the circuit will clog up again quite quickly.

Rapid or hydrodynamic de-silting: the shock solution

For a quick and long-lasting de-silting, the shock solution developed by Curatec is much more suitable.

Our technicians begin by injecting a solution highly concentrated in active alkalis into the system and allowing it to circulate for at least 3 to 5 days. The sludge is then softened according to a strict protocol, until an optimal result is obtained.

The de-sludging products are then neutralized, and the suspended particles are evacuated thanks to a mixture of water and air pulsed under high pressure.

This hydrodynamic rinsing is carried out from the lower parts and the inside of each housing. Each component of the installation is isolated and rinsed individually:

  • Boiler or heat pump.
  • Pipelines and collectors.
  • Private circuits.
  • Emitters: radiators, underfloor heating, fan coil units, air conditioners, etc.

Finally, after checking the proper functioning of each terminal, our technicians inject conditioning products into the water circuit to prevent the return of scale and corrosion.

The advantages of hydrodynamic de-silting of heating and air conditioning systems

The active method of de-silting has many advantages:

  • Very limited inconvenience for users, since we intervene mainly from the boiler room, the building’s sub-stations and the communal areas.
  • Dissolution and rapid elimination of all sludge, allowing the restoration of the initial exchange surfaces.
  • Rapid increase in the energy efficiency of the installation, in the order of 5 to 30%.
  • Significant reduction in consumption and an improvement in your thermal comfort.
  • Free reintervention guarantee for up to 5 years.

Would you like more information on our solutions for de-silting heating and air conditioning systems in Luxembourg? Contact us!

To quickly restore optimum flow to your drainage systems: