- This is a question that many UK homeowners ask, as they look for reasons why their radiators are not as hot as they should be, and in this article, we shall attempt to answer the question. Sludge in your central heating system would certainly result in less heat reaching the radiators, and one way to tell is to slightly open the bleed air vents on each radiator, while holding tissue paper over the vent, and should there be a build-up of sludge, the tissue will be a dirty brown colour, and the darker the colour, the more sludge there is within the system.
- Sludge Affects the Water Circulation – The pump that sends the hot water around the system will be put under heavy pressure if sludge is present, and in some cases, it could stop working altogether. If you are soon to be having local boiler installation in Glasgow, this is the ideal opportunity to ask the heating engineers to power flush the entire system, which will remove all of the built up sludge.
- Typical Symptoms – One sure sign that you have a build-up of sludge is if the heating system takes longer than usual to heat the home, and this is the result of an inefficient water pump that is trying to deal with the heavy sludge. If, for example, the radiators are hotter at the top than the bottom, this is another sign that sludge has built-up inside the radiators, and there are several ways to de-sludge a central heating system.
If you suspect that your central heating system might have a build-up of sludge, ask your local heating engineer to inspect the system, and should that be the case, he can remove the sludge and restore the heating to its previous efficiency levels.