Periodic flushing of the gas boiler heat exchanger is a basic requirement for the maintenance of heating equipment. Cleaning significantly affects the smooth operation of the entire system and greatly extends the life of the home heating device. When should I flush and can I do it myself?
During the operation of a gas boiler, a layer of scale forms, which prevents the necessary cooling of the heat exchanger. In this case, the circulation pump takes on a large load. Therefore, without flushing the heat exchanger, the heating unit may fail.
At home, cleaning should be done every two years. If the water in the house is hard enough, then it is recommended to reduce the interval between flushing.
The first signs for the user that the heat exchanger needs to be flushed are:
When scale appears in double-circuit boilers, the water may not completely warm up or the pressure level may decrease.
It is advisable to avoid the combination of such symptoms. But if there are warning signs, flushing should be done immediately.
In addition to the internal cleaning of the heat exchanger, external cleaning of its body from soot is used. Socialized services are engaged in the elimination of scale and pollution in the gas boiler system. Their services are not cheap. Therefore, sometimes you can flush the heat exchanger yourself.
The method of cleaning the heat exchanger in a gas boiler depends on the design of the device itself and the quality of the water used in the heating system. A booster is used for a complete flush. With such special equipment, you can clean the heat exchanger inside without disassembling it.
Flushing can be done independently with or without a booster. There are three main methods for flushing a gas boiler. Each option has its own characteristics.
Observing all safety measures, the heat exchanger can be cleaned independently at home using manual flushing.
This process can be done in two ways:
For severe blockages, two types of cleaning can be used - washing with a solution, and then mechanical cleaning.
At home, removing dirt and scale from the heat exchanger is quite simple. First you need to shut off the gas supply, turn off the power supply and disassemble the boiler:
When the device is disassembled and access to the heat exchanger is provided, you can start cleaning it:
After such actions, the heat exchanger and the dismantled parts are installed in place. Before disassembling the gas boiler, it is recommended to study the instructions that came with the device.
Such washing is carried out using a booster. But the device is not cheap at all. Therefore, many craftsmen make a special device on their own. For this, a ten-liter container, a pump and two hoses are used.
In chemical cleaning, it is important to choose the right acid solution so that the substance does not damage the metal parts of the boiler. For severe scale, products based on hydrochloric or sulfuric acid can be used. Lighter contamination is cleaned with citric acid, two hundred grams of which is diluted in five liters of water.
The process of cleaning a gas boiler with chemicals is quite simple:
Factory boosters are equipped with a heating mode. This function allows you to increase the temperature of cleaning solutions, thereby improving the quality of cleaning.
Washing the gas boiler heat exchanger with chemicals should last at least two hours. After carrying out the entire procedure, remove the reagent and rinse the device with a neutralizing agent, which is selected depending on the agent used. After a solution with citric acid, you can treat it with soda dissolved in water.
The disadvantage of frequent chemical cleaning is the negative effect of active elements on the metal elements of the boiler. Therefore, this type of flushing is recommended to be done no more than two or three years later.
For chemical removal of scale and contaminants from the heat exchanger, the following means are used:
When working with chemicals, safety precautions must be followed. Dismantling of heating devices is carried out only after a complete disconnection from the supply of gas and electricity.
Such flushing is carried out without dismantling the boiler. The process consists of pumping water into the heating system and pressurizing it. In this case, sometimes an abrasive substance is added to the liquid.
By increasing the movement of water, scale is effectively destroyed, and various contaminants inside the system are well washed off.
With such cleaning, it is important to properly organize the level of pressure, otherwise pipes may burst. Therefore, hydrodynamic flushing is not recommended to be done independently. This process is carried out by specialists who have permission to work with gas equipment.
The type of heater does not affect the frequency of flushing the heat exchanger. Both a single-circuit and a boiler with two circuits need timely cleaning.
A distinctive feature of flushing a boiler with a water heating function is that in addition to cleaning the main heat exchanger, it is necessary to remove scale from the DHW paths.
The method of flushing the hot water supply path in the boiler depends on the type of heat exchanger, of which a boiler with two circuits has two:
In this case, the temperature regime of heating should be observed within fifty and fifty-five degrees above zero.
If there is a secondary heat exchanger in the double-circuit boiler, then it can be dismantled for cleaning. For this you need:
After that, the device can be cleaned by dipping into a solution with an active solution. Well removes scale citric acid. It is diluted in containers with water, a secondary heat exchanger is placed there and boiled over low heat until the deposits are completely dissolved. Be sure to rinse all treated parts with clean water or soda solution after cleaning.
For a single-circuit boiler, only flushing of the main heat exchanger is required. The main thing is to prevent the formation of strong pollution and scale. It is better to carry out a light preventive cleaning than to subsequently wash the heat exchanger with strong metal-destroying substances.
Flushing a gas boiler is a mandatory process that should be carried out in a timely manner. The reliability of the heater and its service life depend on the observance of the frequency of cleaning and its correct implementation. To avoid unnecessary costs, you can eliminate small scale yourself. To do this, you need to choose the necessary cleaning method and study the technique of its implementation.
Content
Flushing of heat exchangers is required for gas boilers at intervals of 2-3 years. If this procedure is neglected, over time the boiler unit will become worse at coping with its functions, its efficiency will drop by almost half, and in order to maintain the usual temperature in the house during the heating season, it will be necessary to force the unit to constantly operate at full capacity.
Gas boiler heat exchanger in need of cleaning
Why is this happening and why is it dangerous? Cleaning the heat exchangers from the outside makes it possible to remove the accumulated layer of soot - the thicker the layers, the worse the boiler works and the higher your energy costs. Flushing the boiler from scale helps to remove scale that has settled on the inner surface of the heat exchanger. Due to scale, the working section of the heat exchanger narrows, the coolant warms up more slowly - this also negatively affects the efficiency of the autonomous heating system and adds load to the boiler.
If preventive maintenance of a gas boiler is not carried out in a timely manner, gas costs increase every month and the risk of boiler breakdown increases. Steel boilers, constantly working at full power, quickly burn out. In the vast majority of cases, boilers fail at the height of the heating period, when they operate at full load. Calling a master to repair a boiler unit with mandatory cleaning and flushing of the heat exchanger will cost a serious amount.
To avoid problems and save money, it is enough to carry out preventive measures every three years. Flushing a gas boiler is a set of works that can be done on your own, spending from 1.5 to 4 hours on everything.
Cleaning of the heat exchanger is carried out at the end of the heating season. To carry out the work, it is enough to have a standard set of tools available. Before starting work, it is necessary to disconnect the boiler unit from the gas network (main or local) and electricity.
Consider, how to clean a floor standing gas boiler:
It is convenient to clean the burner of a gas boiler with an old toothbrush. Soot must also be removed from the flame control sensor, igniter, piezoelectric device for automatic ignition.
To get to the boiler heat exchanger, remove the top cover of the unit, disconnect the draft sensor and the chimney, remove the insulation, dismantle the casing fasteners and the casing itself. Having gained access to the heat exchanger, it is necessary to remove the turbulators from it.
A soft metal brush is suitable for cleaning the turbulators, and the heat exchanger itself is freed from soot deposits with a miniature scraper made of thin metal. A brush with a long handle is also used. First of all, the smoke pipes are cleaned and swept, then the soot that has fallen on the bottom should be removed.
Cleaning the wall-mounted heat generator. After turning off the gas supply, it is necessary to dismantle the front panel of the boiler. Then the front cover is unscrewed, which closes the combustion chamber. It is recommended to cover the nozzles with a sheet of thick paper so that the burner does not become clogged with falling soot. Do-it-yourself cleaning of the heat exchanger of a double-circuit boiler is carried out using an old toothbrush or a brush with metal bristles. After the cleaning is completed, it is necessary to cover the heat exchanger with a brush and carefully remove the paper with the collected soot. How the procedure is performed, see the video below.
Flushing the gas boiler heat exchanger is necessary to remove internal deposits that can disrupt the normal circulation of the coolant in the heating system and cause problems with the supply of hot water to the local DHW system. Substances that destroy the metal may also be present in the deposits.
How often this measure is required depends on the type of coolant. If purified water circulates in the system, it is enough to do prophylaxis every four years, removing deposits. The system with antifreeze should be flushed every two years and the coolant should be changed regularly - under the influence of high temperatures, it changes properties over time and can become dangerous for the metal elements of the system.
Do-it-yourself flushing of the gas boiler heat exchanger is carried out mechanically or chemically, with the second option being more efficient.
mechanical way. In this case, remove the heat exchanger to clean it manually. Dismantling this part is a troublesome task, the complexity of which depends on the design of a particular boiler model. In any case, the result of mechanical washing is lower than that of chemical washing.
Chemical method. Allows you to flush your boiler without dismantling the heat exchanger, but requires the use of special equipment - a booster.
You can mount it yourself:
Note! From time to time, switch the system to the opposite direction using a reversible pump, or simply by swapping the hoses. The heating of the boiler is turned off.
Before connecting the equipment for flushing, it is necessary to relieve the pressure in the heating system to zero using the Mayevsky tap, drain the coolant from the heat exchanger, and clean the built-in mud filter of the boiler (if any).
If the double-circuit unit is equipped with a bimetallic heat generator that simultaneously heats the coolant and prepares water for hot water supply, then cleaning is carried out according to the method described above, using a booster.
For models with a secondary heat exchanger, this stainless steel part must be removed and washed separately. For dismantling, remove the front panel, unscrew and slide the control unit. The secondary heat exchanger for the gas boiler is bolted at the bottom. It is removed and boiled on the stove in water with citric acid or a special agent.
Citric acid is a popular folk remedy, the solution is prepared at the rate of 20 g of acid per 1 liter of water, but a higher concentration is also allowed. You can also use special products that are safe for metal and heating system seals.
In any case, at the final stage of cleaning, clean water should be driven through the heat exchanger with a booster to remove traces of cleaning agents aggressive to the metal, and only then bring the unit into working condition.
How to perform cleaning and flushing work without removing the heat exchanger using a circulation pump, see the following video.
If desired, you can clean the heat exchanger of a double-circuit boiler with your own hands, without resorting to the services of specialists. This procedure does not take much time, and besides, you do not need to spend extra money. The main thing is to follow some rules and know the principle of operation of a gas boiler. After spending only 2-3 hours, you can qualitatively clean the equipment from contamination.
A gas boiler heats water by burning gas in it. The heat exchanger of the building is a copper or steel curved pipe. When the gas is converted into energy, the heat exchanger also heats up, transferring heat to the heating system. Heating is carried out thanks to special plates, they also help to raise the temperature and direct it to one of the circuits of the two-circuit system.
The heat exchanger is made from the following materials:
This is due to the fact that copper and its derivatives conduct heat well.
These plates tend to be covered with deposits due to contact with water, so they must be cleaned every two years before turning on the heating for the winter.
If the water is hard enough, you will have to clean the heat exchanger from scale once every 2 years. You can do it yourself by preparing the necessary tools in advance.
In order to avoid overheating of equipment parts, breakdown and increase in fuel costs, periodic flushing and cleaning of the heat exchanger and other elements is required.
The heat exchanger can be cleaned in several ways:
Manual cleaning is done with a stiff brush and a vacuum cleaner. For a double-circuit boiler, you should use an anti-salt liquid from limescale. First, the coil is removed, and after the procedure it returns to its place. Particular attention must be paid to checking the tightness.
You can also clean the pipe with a booster. To do this, a special solution is passed through it, which is able to remove even deposits of iron compounds. In the end, the acid is neutralized by another liquid, which is driven through the pipes.
The hydrodynamic method allows you to effectively destroy plaque and deposits by increasing pressure and using abrasive substances pumped into the coil.
If you decide to do the procedure for cleaning the structure with your own hands, before working at home, you need to turn off the electricity, turn off the gas, close all the valves of the heating system and boiler.
All actions should be carried out carefully, disassembly and assembly requires special care:
After completing all the necessary procedures, you can open the gas valve and turn on the electricity.
When the boiler has been operating for a long enough time, pollution in the form of soot gradually forms on the burner. Accumulating in large quantities, it can cause equipment malfunctions. Therefore, it must be periodically removed.
For mechanical cleaning with small accumulations of dirt, you will need:
The gas duct is obligatory wiped. The surface of the nozzles is cleaned with brushes or a brush. A needle is used for holes. In no case should the hole be enlarged, as the combustion process may be disturbed.
If there is a lot of carbon deposits, acidic solvents can be used.
Any gas boiler, even if it is produced by such well-known companies as Aton or Vaillant, requires respect and care. Timely prevention, washing and cleaning from various types of contaminants is the key to uninterrupted and long-term operation of this type of equipment. However, when working independently, it is important not to forget about the correct assembly and safety rules.
Most homeowners using single and double-circuit gas water heaters do not think about maintaining their boilers and operate them for ten years without performing any cleaning measures. But at one fine moment, as a rule, in the middle of the heating season, it suddenly turns out that the power of the unit was not enough to heat the home, although there was no such problem before - this was the scale and soot that had accumulated in your heater for many years. The task of our article will be to reveal the question of how and with what to flush the heat exchanger of a gas boiler and when it needs to be done.
At the very beginning, we note that doing preventive maintenance of heating equipment is always easier and easier than fixing malfunctions that appear in the middle of winter cold. The heat exchanger of a gas unit is no exception, which for prevention, you can rinse from the inside 1 time in 2-3 years, depending on the hardness of the water used. If there is a hot water heating circuit, it is also advisable to flush the secondary heat exchanger for the boiler once every 2 years, since unprepared tap water passes through it, leaving scale, as in the image.
As for the removal of soot from the outer surface of the heat exchanger, then cleaning the gas boiler depends on many factors, such as the operating mode, the quality of natural gas, the presence of filters on the fuel pipeline, and so on. But, regularly doing the internal flushing of the boiler, you cannot but pay attention to its appearance and, of course, you will not bring it to such a deplorable state as in the photo.
Because of this, the efficiency of the boiler can drop by 40-50% due to a thick coating of soot on the outside and internal channels half clogged with scale. With the same gas consumption, the efficiency of the heater will be 40% and it will be cold in your house in winter. But since calling a specialist for this event will cost you a pretty penny, you can clean the gas boiler at home on your own.
There are two ways to service the heat exchangers of a water heating plant, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages:
The first method will cost you less, but you will have to be patient and spend much more time. In addition, a minimum set of tools is required, the composition of which depends on the design of the boiler.
If it is required to clean the floor-standing boiler with a fire-tube heat exchanger, then disassembly is indispensable to remove soot, and it will not be possible to completely remove the heat exchanger, you only have to free access to it by removing the gas burner and the cover with the chimney. How to perform the procedure correctly is shown in the following video.
When it comes to a wall-mounted gas boiler, in order to remove the heat exchanger, you need to disconnect the boiler from the electrical network and take measures to empty both circuits and the expansion tank. If special fittings are not provided for this, then you should turn off the water supply in the house, close the taps on the pipelines of the heating system and unscrew them one by one from the boiler nozzles, drain the water into the prepared container.
Then the front metal casing and the panel with controls are unscrewed. The procedure in different models can be done in different ways, but its essence remains the same - to open access to the heating elements. Next, the secondary heat exchanger for the gas boiler is removed, usually it is attached to the frame with two turnkey bolts - a hexagon. The main heater is more difficult to remove, this will require disassembling the combustion chamber.
The removed elements are best treated from the outside with special tools designed to remove carbon deposits and soot from heat exchangers and chimneys. There is a wide range of such products on sale, here the choice is entirely yours. Of course, conventional detergents can also be used, but such a solution is irrational, a high-quality chemical cleaning of the heat exchanger is preferable. After all, it's not for the same reason that you spent so much effort disassembling once every 2 or 3 years to wash the heater with kitchen gel for dishes.
Internal surfaces, unlike external ones, can be washed well with a solution of citric acid, which is not too aggressive, but does an excellent job of removing plaque. If the scale layer is significant, then you will have to make a flushing unit. Its task is to ensure the circulation of the washing solution through the heat exchanger for several hours. To clean the heat exchanger from scale, a container of 8-10 liters is used and a pump with two hoses connected to the heater nozzles.
Here you can use a conventional circulation pump for heating systems. Again, flushing is performed in this way without dismantling the boiler, you just need to connect the hoses to the appropriate
Periodic maintenance of the heating elements should not be ignored, so that subsequently you do not have to solder or repair the heat exchangers of gas boilers. After all, if the heater does not warm up the house normally, you will increase its power to the maximum, and this can lead to burnout of the metal. The exception is cast iron heaters, but they also require timely cleaning.
An indispensable attribute of any heating system is a boiler, which acts as a heat generator for heating a home.
The modern market for heating equipment is saturated with a very wide range of boilers of various types. But a special place in this assortment is occupied by, which are gaining more and more popularity every day.
This trend is due to the fact that units of this type are very efficient and economical devices for heating a country house and even an apartment. In order for the gas boiler to function smoothly and stably, it is necessary to properly care for it.
One type of such maintenance is other pollution. Let's talk in more detail about why cleaning a gas unit, as well as in what ways this can be done.
The need for cleaning arises when the following negative aspects are detected in the operation of the AOGV boiler:
As a rule, the causes of such failures are the clogging of the boiler. In order to understand where pollution accumulates, you need to know.
The device of this type of equipment has the following components that need to be cleaned periodically:
It is worth noting that the cleaning of each node of the gas boiler has its own specifics, which we will dwell on in more detail.
During normal operation of the igniter, its flame should look like a cone with a blue tint. If the flame becomes yellowish, then this means that the burner is dirty.
The order of cleaning occurs in the following sequence:
This part is the main one in the design of wall and floor gas boilers, since it is designed directly for supplying fuel.
The sequence for cleaning the burner with nozzles is as follows:
Expert advice: The burner with nozzles should be cleaned once a year, preferably before the heating season.
This device is designed to clean the incoming gas from various kinds of contaminants and impurities.
Therefore, it is very important to regularly clean the filter from accumulated clogging.
It is worth knowing that the main purpose of the heat exchanger of a double-circuit boiler is how much water will be heated and at what speed.
It must also be understood that this element of the boiler unit can become clogged both from the inside and outside.
The outer part of the heat exchanger is contaminated with soot, which negatively affects its functioning. This boiler assembly can be cleaned of soot mechanically, in other words, cleaning is done by hand.
This will require the following set of tools:
The cleaning procedure is as follows:
Important point: try to clean using a tool that does not have sharp edges. Otherwise, damage to the heat exchanger may be caused, which in the future may cause corrosion of the product.
The cause of contamination of the inside of the device may be a poor-quality coolant, due to which scale settles on the walls. (By the way, you can read about flushing the heating boiler from scale).As a result, the throughput of the heat exchanger decreases, which generally affects the functioning of the entire gas boiler. The best way to clean the inside is with chemicals.
Among the reagents that are used to clean the internal walls, the following tools can be distinguished:
Specialist's note: the choice of washing agent should depend only on the degree of contamination of the heat exchanger.
To carry out a full range of works on cleaning the internal walls from scale, special washing equipment is used, which is called a booster.
The booster consists of the following elements:
The principle of cleaning the heat exchanger using a flushing device such as a booster is as follows:
As a result of the circulation of the chemical agent, the scale lags behind the inner walls and goes outside along with the spent solution.
Experts advise: using the booster, you can clean not only the circuit of hot water boilers, but also the pipes of the entire heating system.
To the question of how often to clean the heat exchanger, you can answer that cleaning is carried out as it gets dirty, but at least once a year.
You can learn more about calculating the power of the boiler in this article:
Although gas is a clean type of fuel, soot still accumulates on the walls of the furnace and in the chimney over time. The accumulation of this combustion product interferes with the normal functioning of the boiler, as the draft disappears.
Watch the video, which shows in detail how to properly clean a gas boiler at home:
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