Like with any appliance, it's important to listen to the normal sounds your boiler makes so you can identify potential problems. If you begin to hear a loud banging or rumbling coming from your boiler, there's a good chance that it is suffering from a problem known as kettling. If you discover this sound, you'll want to contact a technician to come and investigate because the situation will become much more serious if you do not take care of it right now.
How Kettling Works
Kettling is caused by a disruption in your boiler. The disruption comes from there being too many minerals in your water supply. In some areas, hard water is very common. The hard water can lead to mineral deposits that will change the pressure levels in your tank. The boiler might spring a leak and in extreme cases, it might place your home at risk. To be able to prevent your boiler from kettling, it's important to understand how the process works.
The boiler heats hot water through a heat exchanger. As the water heats, the minerals in the water become insoluble. When water flow becomes restricted, the water can become too hot and will start to steam, boil and expand. This leads to your boiler making a lot of noise. This situation also causes debris to collect around the heat exchanger, which is known as sludge. This further exacerbates the problem.
Hiring a Professional
The best way to solve a kettling issue is to hire a professional boiler repair service. A technician will investigate and correct the problem so that you can save your boiler. If your boiler has been newly installed and is making these noises, the issue might instead be that your boiler was installed improperly. If this is the case, the boiler repair service will be able to identify the incorrect installation and correct it. There may also be a problem with the boiler thermostat and replacing it will correct the kettling problem.
Treating Your Boiler
To prevent the kettling problem from occurring again, you should have your heating system treated with descalers and water softeners that are based on the type of minerals in the water and the type of boiler you use. A central heating protector is also a great investment because it will protect against corrosion and sludge. If the kettling problem is not resolved, your boiler will not last as long.
Share27 November 2018
My homes have always had either copper or PVC plumbing pipes. But when my plumbing system needed an overhaul last spring, I wanted a piping system for my home that I could work on myself when needed. There were a lot of good reasons to choose PEX piping, but my favorite thing about the PEX piping is that it's easy to work with, even if you're a beginner like me. Now I can make small repairs myself instead of calling the plumber every time I have a minor leak or other small problem. I still call the plumber for the big stuff, but it's more affordable now that I can take care of small issues myself. I started this blog to help others learn how they, too, can do DIY plumbing repairs at home.